Peril’s upcoming issues 16 and 17 are themed on binaries and dualities. We have named one issue ‘binaries’ and another ‘dualities’, however, the content doesn’t necessarily reflect neat categorisations.
We have decided to release content for the upcoming editions over the next few weeks, which means that you’ll have to keep checking Peril to read Eleanor Jackson’s editorial and poetry selection and Owen Leong’s editorial and visual arts features.
For prose, we have some single issue submissions, while others should be read in two-parts, in keeping with the double-issue theme.
In Issue 16, Sheila Pham’s “In memory of Diep Nguyen” is a reflective piece about isolation and community; Melanie Cheng’s “Pure Lotus” is a memoir in honour of her grandmother who passed away not long ago; Kevin Bathman’s “Chindian Diaries” is a two-part exploration of being of Chinese and Indian heritage, and his journey of finding other Chindians like him through his creative project; Stephanie Lai’s “Not Even Sea Turtles (can a Chinese-Australian in China every truly be Chinese enough?)” is also another two part exploration – her discovery and discord about her diasporic Chinese identity in China in contrast to being in Australia; Suzanne Nguyen’s “Being yellow: about the Two Chairs initiative” is about her installation and story-collecting project premised on combating racism. Suzanne’s piece is the first part of The Two Chairs project submission for Peril. We have two fictional pieces that have been submitted with the idea of it being read in two chapters. Ali Zayaan’s “Spring” about romance gone wrong in a season where love is meant to bloom and Daryl Lim’s “White with a dark spot” about a young man who goes to extremes to pursue a dream.
In Issue 16, we also feature Writers Victoria’s CALD Mentorship mentees – Hoa Pham, Beverly Almeida, Hariklia Heristanidis, Fatima Sehbai and myself. The articles reflect on the mentorship program with historian and novelist Maria Tumarkin and writing from a bicultural lens.
For Issue 17, I interview Kevin Bathman about The Chindian diaries. I also interview Dominic Golding about his critique and analysis on the “current packaging of refugee arts” through Unseen Habitation a site-specific exhibition which explored the concept of how communities reconstructed place and home in Australia post-migration. Hoa Pham interviews local Melbourne visual artist Phuong Ngo about his work at the NGV for Melbourne Now, the largest exhibition in NGV’s history, featuring 300 artists, architects, designers and creative practitioners. Stephanie Lai’s “Secret Asian Papercuts (being Chinese-Australian means being too Chinese) is the second part in her exploration about her Chinese diasporic identity, however now the story is based in Australia. Hop Dac’s “Let the wild romop begin” is a reflection on the 21years since the release of Romper Stomper a film about neo-Nazi skinheads, and what it meant for him at grade ten living in country town Geraldton, on the West Australian coast. Dan Manchuca’s “Being white: more about The Two Chairs initiative” is the second part of The Two Chairs storytelling art project. The Two Chairs are also featuring at the upcoming Big West Festival. Maria Tumarkin reflects on her experience as mentor in the Writers Victoria CALD Mentorship program. In terms of fiction, we feature Jina Hong’s “Mother’s Room” an exploration about an absent mother, Daryl Lim’s second piece “Vice-versa” which explores excesses and Ali Zayaan’s “Autumn” which explores the blossoming of romance in a darker season.
I hope you enjoy these last two issues of Peril in 2013. We now wait anxiously to hear whether we’ll receive funding for 2014. At Peril, while we feature work from established and emerging creatives, I always have a little feeling of pride of finding out that we’re publishing someone for the first time. Cross-fingers for our funding next year!
Big heartfelt thank you to all those behind the Peril scenes – Hoa Pham, Lucy Van, Anna Mandoki, Lia Incognita, Raina Peterson, Mik Efford and Alister Air.
And to my wonderful fellow editors – Eleanor Jackson and Owen Leong – we’ve made our deadline for 2013 – hurray!
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