Write For Us

This Is Southeast Asia publishes personal essays by Southeast Asian writers under 40 years of age.

We want you to write about your experience of a place: any place in Southeast Asia. It could be a neighborhood, a town, or a street; a university campus, a house of worship, a restaurant; an office, mall, market, cinema, etc.

We don’t want an objective description of a place, but an account of your own personal response to and relationship with a place. Tell us what the place means to you, what effect the place has on you. Tell us what you think the place suggests about the society or community in which you’re living or moving through.

Our essays are literary nonfiction: like all literary writing, they need to develop a theme or themes. We recommend reading through these pieces as examples of what we’re looking for: Enbah Nilah on the E2, Josephine Phay on a condominium, Stephanie Dogfoot on a field, and Angel Lee on Kluang.

Most of the essays we publish are between 1,500 and 3,000 English words. Please write primarily about the present day rather than the past: we don't want memoir. All submissions must be entirely original work not previously published.

Unsolicited submissions should be sent to editor[at]thisissoutheastasia.com.