Recently I was a featured artist in the Ian Potter Cultural Trust’s annual report. I am deeply indebted to the trust for their support of my MFA studies at Warren Wilson. Their grants program made my attendance possible, and I’m truly grateful for their assistance!

Hana and her copy of Gulf Coast!

I’m belated as usual, but I’m very happy to share that I had two poems published in the Spring 2023 issue of Agni (one of which is published online here), and one long poem, a retelling of Yé Xiàn, the origin story for Cinderella, in the Winter/Spring 2024 issue of Gulf Coast. Both of these journals are dream publications for me, so I’m really happy these poems found their homes there.

Myself and fellow inclusion interns Teri Vela, Priscilla Wathington, and Rowan Sharp.

I also completed not one, but three residencies at Warren Wilson since the first one in the US summer of 2022, and am currently working on my thesis manuscript. It’s been a life-changing experience so far, and includes some amazing DEIB work as an Inclusion Intern (pictured above). While I’m sad to step down for health reasons, I’m looking forward to producing some exciting new work as well as some critical craft lectures for my final semester.

I was incredibly lucky to have recently been invited to attend the second Contemporary Asian Australian Performance (CAAP) Artist Lab, this time under the brilliant stewardship of Tessa Leong and Sandi Woo. The inaugural Artist Lab at the end of 2020 fostered the collaboration between myself and my director Nate Gilkes on ‘The Red Dust’ and the Institute of Australian and Chinese Arts and Culture (IAC) at Western Sydney University, who contributed both subtitles and Chinese musical instrumentation to the show. Returning to the second Artist Lab, which was held at Sydney Theatre Company, was just as an invigorating experience as the first, as I got to know a new batch of Asian Australian performance artists as well as share and learn new skills.

Jules Pek-Lowther and Nate Gilkes performing selections from ‘The Red Dust'. Photo by Xiang Zhang.

We were also extremely lucky to be invited by the IAC to perform selections from ‘The Red Dust’ at the opening of legendary Chinese Australian photographer and performance artist William Yang’s latest exhibition, ‘Claiming Heritage.’ Having recently performed his most recent one-man show ‘Gay Sydney: A Memoir’ at the Seymour Centre to great acclaim, we were very lucky to watch William perform a short excerpt from the show alongside photos which also feature in his exhibition. We were then incredibly honoured to perform songs from ‘The Red Dust’ at the opening, which also features themes of growing up as a Chinese Australian, and also, ironically, climbing mountains! Many thanks to Jing Han and Dr. Nicholas Ng from IAC and Tessa Leong from CAAP for their involvement.

’Claiming Heritage’ runs until May 5th at Parramatta South Campus, Western Sydney University, so be sure to check it out!

Tessa Leong (Artistic Directo of CAAP), Jules Pek-Lowther (performer), myself, William Yang, Dr. Nicholas Ng (Chinese musical instrument performer and composer), and Nate Gilkes (composer and director)

I was so thrilled this morning to wake up to find out my poem ‘Night-Light,’ published in Crazyhorse’s 101st issue earlier this year, has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize! The Pushcart Prize is an annual US literary prize that honours the best poems, short stories, and essays from small presses. You can click here to read the nominated poem!

I’m incredibly grateful to be a recipient of a grant from the Ian Potter Cultural Trust for my MFA studies at Warren Wilson! If you’re curious about what I’m working on, here’s a short interview they did with me as a new grantee.

This week I had the pleasure of presenting The Red Dust at the NSW State Government’s Department of Communities and Justice Inaugural Multicultural Community Engagement Conference at the Parkroyal in Parramatta. In and among topics as broad as youth engagement, health, refugee settlement, language, education, and media, I presented our development and rehearsal process with director and composer of The Red Dust (and Marian St Theatre for Young People artistic director) Nate Gilkes, and our choreographer Jia-wei Zhu.

It was super lovely to get the band together again, even if only for a short moment! It was also fantastic to present with our friends from Chinese Australian Seniors Service (CASS), who have been so enthusiastic about how the production activated their Chinese elder community. We’re currently in the process of working out next steps for The Red Dust, so be sure to watch this space!

Again, I’m late to post this, but I’m so happy to say I was able to attend this year’s Tin House Summer Workshop in person after two years of virtual conferences! Thanks to the incredible generosity of the Neilma Sidney Literary Travel Fund, I spent one week at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, studying with the inimitable Paisley Rekdal, former Poet Laureate of Utah and all-round impressive human bean. I was also immensely grateful to meet friends old and new in an invigoratingly progressive space while learning new skills.

I was also lucky enough to begin my studies at the low-residency MFA creative writing program at Warren Wilson College in North Carolina! It’s long been a dream of mine to study at Warren Wilson, whose alumni include Victoria Chang, Reginald Dwayne Betts, and A. Van Jordan, and I was terrifically excited to finally begin in July—and at a residency to remember, no less (bears, fires, fireflies, and covid, oh my!). I’m currently moving into the second half of the semester and I’m really thrilled with my progress so far.

Speaking of long-held dreams, I recently published a poem in wildness, a UK online literary journal offshoot of Platypus Press. I’ve been reading wildness and its stunning poems about desire since I began writing poetry seriously, so it was a real delight to be published there.

I also joined Four Way Review as an associate poetry editor under the ever accomplished Sara Elkamel recently, and it’s so far been a blast! The first issue I worked on was the Summer 2022 issue, and I’m really proud of all the poets who were featured in it.

That’s all for now! More news soon!

I’m a little late posting about this due to catching covid in the aftermath, but I’m very happy to say that The Red Dust 红尘 with Marian St Theatre for Young People premiered swimmingly at Ku-Ring-Gai Town Hall in July! Our Friday and Saturday night shows were sold out, and the piece was beautifully received by the community. I was sadly not there in person, as I was attending Tin House Summer Workshop in Portland, but I was able to video call in on one performance and cheer on the cast and crew as they performed live. You can read more about the show and look at some amazing production shots at this link here.

Many thanks go out to Marian St Theatre for Young People (MSTYP), who produced and supported this show for the past two years, and to the Institute for Australian and Chinese Arts and Culture (IAC) at Western Sydney University for their unwavering support. Obviously big thanks to the Chinese Australian Seniors Service (CASS) and MSTYP for their enthusiastic teens and elders! And to all the crew and creatives who gave their hearts and souls to the show.

The Red Dust 红尘 should be coming back to a theatre near you (if you’re in Sydney) some time in the near future, so stay tuned!

I feel incredibly grateful to have recently been awarded a Neilma Sidney Literary Travel Fund grant from Writers Victoria to attend the 2022 Tin House Summer Workshop. Many, many thanks to Writers Victoria and the Myer Foundation for their support and the panel, which included author Ronnie Gorrie, writer and editor Radhiah Chowdhury, and publisher and previous Neilma Sidney Literary Travel Fund recipient Arwen Summers.

Although I have been lucky enough to attend Tin House virtually in the past, this time will be the first time I’ll be attending in person. Tin House Summer Workshop is an annual competitive writers’ conference of workshops, lectures, and readings run by Tin House Books in Portland, Oregon. I’m really looking forward to being able to learn and discuss poetry in a progressive and rigorous US environment (with Paisley Rekdal, no less!), as well as to meet some online poetry friends for the first time in the flesh!

After many pandemic delays and false starts, The Red Dust is back on (tickets here)! Reimagined as an intimate physical theatre performance alongside the original vision of music, poetry and text, the show will be performed at Ku-Ring-Gai Town Hall with elders from Chinese Australian Services Society (CASS).

Our team has changed up a little but it’s still being directed and composed by the tireless Nate Gilkes, with traditional Chinese music composition and performance by Dr Nicholas Ng, movement and choreography by Jia-wei Zhu, lighting design by Benjamin Brockman, assistant direction by Alexandra Sharps, and subtitles in Mandarin and English by the team at the Institute of Australian and Chinese Arts and Culture at Western Sydney University, headed by Professor Jing Han.

The show follows Chinese Australian teen Talia in a near future where Sydney is continuously covered by a red dust storm. Much like the Chinese term hóng chén 红尘, which refers to the world of desires and distractions, Talia is often so distracted by ‘the red dust’ of her online life that she neglects to realise her climate scientist mother has gone missing on a trip to find the last blue gum trees. Through poetry, music, dance and physical theatre, Talia is challenged with ‘seeing through the red dust’ as she embarks on a journey to the Blue Mountains to find her mother.

We just started rehearsals and I’m so excited to be working with the kids at Marian St, as well as Robyn Clark, who will play the lead role of Talia.

Where: Ku-ring-gai Town Hall, 1186 Pacific Hwy, Pymble NSW 2073, Australia

When: Wednesday 13th July 10.30am and 1.30pm, Thursday 14th July 10.30am and 1.30pm, Friday 15th July 1.30pm and 7.30pm, and Saturday 16th July 7.30pm

Who: All ages!

Cost: $20

Tickets: Here!

I’m performing at this lovely concert organised by Paul Castles on 7.30pm on May 30th at the Annandale Creative Arts Centre. If you’re in Sydney at the end of May, it would be lovely to see you there!

Here’s our little spiel:

Formed in response to the lost bond of intimacy between neighbours during lockdown, HERE explores the theme of locality and transition through a collaboration between words, music, and visuals.

Original poetry and integrative art unify the quiet story of HERE and its reflections on place, identity, and and the act of re-gathering in the wake of change. Interwoven musical compositions including 4 world premieres are brought to life by the unique colours of harp, recorder, saxophone, and piano.

You can read a conversation between classical music website ClassikON and Paul featuring one of my poems from the concert here.

Also, here’s an interview with Paul by classical music magazine CutCommon discussing our collaboration.

I’ll be performing poetry from a song cycle Paul and I featured at the CAAP Longhouse, as well as some new poems. Hope to see you there!

Another very belated update on doings of late!

As mentioned in my previous post, I was lucky enough to attend the Palm Beach Poetry Festival online as a Kundiman scholar with Matthew Olzmann and the Tin House Winter Workshop with Leila Chatti. Both experiences were incredible despite the restrictions of the online format — I’m very lucky to still be in touch with classmates and teachers from both cohorts and their amazing talents.

I was also incredibly lucky to be accepted into Warren Wilson College’s low-residency MFA poetry program for their summer intake. Warren Wilson is one of the oldest and most distinguished low-residency programs in the US, and I’m very excited to begin my studies there. I’ve already started preparing for what I’m hoping will be a rigorous two years.

And while I’m in the US I’ll also be attending Tin House Summer Workshop — for the first time in person! I’m really looking forward to studying with Paisley Rekdal, and meeting some wonderful friends for the first time in real life.

Before I head off though, I’ll be performing some poetry at a concert of new music organised by my dear friend Paul Castles! Conceived during lockdown, the concert will feature words, music, and art in response to transition, locality, and the lost intimacies between strangers. The poetry I’ll be performing will include extracts from a song cycle Paul and I have been working on for a few years, Nat/Jessie/Jimmy, as well as some new poems. I’ll also be narrating the lyrics of some of Paul’s work with other collaborators. A casual one-hour event, it should be a lovely night of new music. If you’re in Sydney at the end of May, you can get your tickets here.

Also back on again thanks to things re-opening is The Red Dust, which was postponed a couple of times due to lockdown. This time we’re presenting a smaller, more intimate development version of the show, with direction by Nate Gilkes, music by Nate Gilkes and Dr Nicholas Ng, choreography by Jia-wei Zhu, subtitles by Jing Han at the Institute for Australian and Chinese Arts and Culture (IAC), elders from Chinese Australian Services Society (CASS), and a company of brilliant young people from Marian St Theatre for Young People. The show follows a young Chinese-Australian teen as she searches for her mother in a post-apocalyptic, red dust-covered Blue Mountains, and features poetry, music, dance, and physical theatre. Rehearsals are starting soon and I’m very excited! If you’re in Sydney mid-July, do come along and get your tickets here!

More soon!

A bit of a belated update on a few things I’ve been up to recently!

Earlier this year I was extremely grateful to be able to attend several US conferences via the online format. The first conference I was lucky enough to attend was Tin House Summer Workshop, where along with seven other fabulous poets I was mentored by the amazing Eduardo C. Corral. While I was not able to sample Portland’s legendary food scene, I was able to attend some fantastic talks by Donika Kelly and Patricia Smith.

I was also very lucky to receive a Rona Jaffe Foundation scholarship to attend Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, which ran throughout August. There, I had the privilege of participating in the inimitable Brenda Shaughnessy and Victoria Chang’s classes, as well as hanging out with my awesome cohorts in the virtual Barn. My attendance at both Bread Loaf and Tin House were supported by a Create NSW grant.

In September I was published in the Spring 2021 edition of Meanjin which was a real treat for me — many thanks to Bronwyn Lea for ushering it through! If you have a subscription, you can read the poem here, and if not, you can read it here.

Next up after a bit of a break is attending the 2022 Palm Beach Poetry Festival as a Kundiman scholar under the guidance of Matthew Olzmann in January, followed by studying with Leila Chatti at the Tin House Winter Workshop in February. I feel incredibly lucky to be able to work with all these incredible poets and am looking forward to the coming year!

I’m so very excited to share the details about my first big show, The Red Dust at Marian St Theatre for Young People! I’ve been working on this show with Artistic Director Nate Gilkes for over a year now, and I’m very excited that it’s going to have its world premiere at The Concourse in Chatswood in September. The show will feature poetry, music, dance and animations, performers from the Chinese Australian Senior Service (CASS) and subtitling from the Australia-China Institute for Arts and Culture at Western Sydney University. It would be great if you came along! Details below, and you can book here:

Where: Chatswood Concourse, 409 Victoria Avenue, Chatswood, NSW, 2067

When: 10:30 and 1pm on 22nd September, and 2pm and 6pm on 23rd September

Who: Recommended for ages 8+

Cost: $35 each, or $30 per person in a group of 4 (all attendees over 24 months must have a ticket)

I’m also the Writer in Residence this year at Marian St, and I’m looking forward to mentoring three Young Artists in Residence over the remainder of the year. They’re all very talented folks and I’m very excited to be working with them.

(left) Nicole W. Lee, (right) Neil Aitken

I’m very excited to have been selected for a Spring (Autumn) 2021 mentorship through the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (USA) with US/Canadian poet Neil Aitken. The mentorship is offered twice a year with participants selected from hundreds of applications in several genres.

Neil is the author of Babbage’s Dream and The Lost Country of Sight (Philip Levine Prize), and holds an MFA from UC Riverside and a PhD from the University of Southern California. Also of Chinese, STEM, and libretti-writing background, Neil and I have had some great talks so far about being part of the BIPOC community, the world of literary journals, and working across multiple genres.

Our fabulous social distancing CAAP artist and partner companies!

Last week I attended the in-person residency of the inaugural Contemporary Asian Australian Performance (CAAP) Artist Lab, a professional development program for Asian Australian performing artists in collaboration with Sydney Theatre Company (STC), Belvoir St Theatre, Griffin Theatre Company and the Australia-China Institute for Arts and Culture. Over five days myself and fourteen others (plus Michelle Lim Davidson via Zoom!) shared skills and experiences, asked questions, and participated in workshops run by the partner companies, culminating in a small showing of hypothetical works-in-progress. I personally really enjoyed the opportunity to be in community with other Asian Australian artists (stage managers, writers, actors, directors, lighting managers) as well as all the good folk at STC, Belvoir, Griffin and ACIAC, and I’m very much looking forward to what future friendships and collaborations will bring!

Also! A couple weeks prior to that, Paul Castles and I presented a ten minute excerpt of our work-in-progress UNTITLED NAT/JESSIE/JIMMY PROJECT at the first CAAP Longhouse of the year. The piece was one of five really exciting and diverse works by Asian Australian women (musicals, multidisciplinary dance theatre and straight plays no less), and was very warmly received. There may be some exciting collaborations coming out of that too, so stay tuned!

Varuna the National Writers’ House, formerly Eleanor Dark’s residence

Last week I participated in a writing residency at the Varuna, the National Writers’ House, thanks to a fellowship with WestWords and Varuna. Over six delightful days I talked, walked, ate, and bonded with Nicole Cadelina, a scriptwriter, Samara Lo, a middle-grade fantasy writer, and Libby Hyett, a young adult writer, as well as our mentor, young adult novelist Wai Chim.

It really was a wonderful time, with each of us learning many things from each other, including industry tid-bits, the differences between the American and Australian literary scenes, the similarities and differences between the diasporic Asian experiences, how to eat the famed Sheila’s delicious salmon frittatas while keeping room for dessert, how not to chop wood with an axe, and most importantly, how to build a fire from scratch.

I personally also spent some time walking and gaining inspiration for NAT/JESSIE/JIMMY, the project for which I was awarded the fellowship, but also for THE RED DUST, which is a project I’m working on for Marian Street Theatre for Young People, both of which are partially set in the Blue Mountains. The clear mountain air and cool temperatures meant that the gardens were still filled with the bright mouths of azaleas, whose colours I captured in the scribblings of a poem.

Many thanks again to James Roy and Chris Donahue at WestWords for the support throughout the week, as well as the Eleanor Dark foundation, Veechi, Amy, Vera, and of course, Sheila for making such a generous and hospitable space! I hope to be back again for some solitude and soup soon.

Clockwise: myself, Nicole Cadelina, Libby Hyett and Samara Lo

Recently I was lucky enough to receive a WestWords/Varuna Fellowship to spend a week at the historic Varuna completing the first draft of NAT/JESSIE/JIMMY, a poetic music narrative with music by Paul Castles. NAT/JESSIE/JIMMY is a meditation on the overlap of experience between Asian, queer and Wiradjuri characters and was earlier shortlisted for programs at Playwriting Australia and ABC. I’m very much looking forward to getting my teeth into it with mentor Wai Chim and meeting the other fabulous residents—Nicole Cadelina (screenwriter), Samara Lo (middle grade novel) and Libby Hyett (young adult novel)!

A song Nate Gilkes and I wrote called ‘Father of the Blue’ was featured on Channel 7’s Sunrise earlier in the week. Big congrats to 13 year old Josie who learned the song on a Saturday and performed it bright and early at 6.30am on a Monday!

*Update* Vimeo didn’t like my uploaded videos of the segment, so you can click through the screenshot of Josie and Nate and watch a short excerpt of the segment on Instagram!