East Side Voices: Essays celebrating East and Southeast Asian identity in Britain

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For ESEA people, East Side Voices is a testament to the little piece of Britain that our communities have carved out for ourselves. It reminds us that we are not alone. For all readers - not just ESEA people - this book is a fantastic insight into the experiences of what it means to be ESEA in a country that has by and large overlooked us. May East Side Voices be the first of many works dedicated to our peoples, our cultures, our struggles, and our triumphs.

East Side Voices | personal stories of Gemma Chan, Katie Leung

Naomi Shimada’s ‘Ode to Obaa-chan’ (her grandmother). I found it incredibly touching, unapologetically honest, emotionally vulnerable and the relationship itself so beautiful. A wonderful book – so timely and much needed. I loved the collection and I hope everyone will read it’ Elif Shafak Featuring essays and poetry from new writers, celebrities and authors ranging from the likes of Gemma Chan, Katie Leung, Sharlene Teo and Zing Tsjeng, this collection explores the wide spectrum of experiences from the East and South-East Asian community. Zing Tsjeng is a journalist with over 10 years of experience across print, online and broadcast media as an editor, writer and presenter. She is VICE UK’s editor in chief, where she specialises in arts, culture, identity and current affairs, and has also written for publications such as British Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and Time Out London. Slowly regretting putting this off for so long because this was amazing and it took me less than a day to finish.The essays are sharpest when various forms of objectification intersect – for example when sexual and racial abuse combine, as with novelist Sharlene Teo’s excellent, self-lacerating piece on exotification: “Once, a man followed me down a platform at Paddington station, chanting ‘ ni hao, konnichiwa, sexy sexy’ and I told him to get lost – only for him to start shouting and running after me.” Gemma Chan on the truth about her father’s life at sea: ‘He knew what it was like to have nothing’ I did struggle a little with some of the essays feeling a little repetitive, and so short I struggled to really engage with them or the writers. I also felt that some of the essays were written for the purpose of promoting the writers’ non-writing activity rather than an enhancement to the collection of essays as there was little depth or exploration within them. I also learned A LOT from these essays. There were various infomation that I did not know and were horrified to learn, such as the fact that Filipinos make up the largest ethnic group of nurses in the NHS and in 2020 were the single largest nationality to die from Covid. In another essay, it was informed that Filipino nurses were the ones assigned most to the Covid wards in the UK during the critical times. There were also some essays here that were written during those first critical months and their experiences of racism that they had to endured because of it.

East Side Voices: Celebrating ESEA Identity - Southbank Centre East Side Voices: Celebrating ESEA Identity - Southbank Centre

My dad isn’t a man of many words, but that night he’d had a few glasses of wine. He told us that he used the bag regularly, despite its pristine appearance, and that the last time he’d used it in the local M&S the cashier had shrieked, “Oh my lord, I haven’t seen one of these in years,” and made the other members of staff gather round to take a look. This moment perfectly encapsulated what I would describe as Dad’s Golden Rule No 1: nothing goes to waste, which applies equally to food, clothes, household items, cars – everything really. Things will be used until they break, if they can be mended they will be mended, but rarely will anything be thrown away. This was established in his childhood out of necessity, but even now, in relative comfort, he still treats everything with such care and hates wastefulness. During my childhood, my dad was the most selfless and diligent father. His love for my sister and me was expressed not through words but through small acts of devotion: always cutting fresh fruit for us; making sure we drank two full glasses of milk each day so our bones would grow strong (milk being a luxury they rarely had in Hong Kong); patiently teaching us how to swim (Golden Rule No 2: learn how to swim). However, when I was younger, there were some things about him that I found hard to understand: his obsession with education, his aversion to waste of any kind, his insistence that we finish every bit of food on our plates; and his constant reminders not to take anything for granted. It was because he knew what it was like to have nothing. The group was founded in 2022 by publicity director Maria Garbutt-Lucero, who works at Hodder & Stoughton, and commissioning editor Joanna Lee, who works at independent publisher Atlantic Books. Its aim is to amplify the voices of east and south-east Asian writers and promote ESEA talent working across the UK publishing industry. All the anthology contributors are incredibly successful: society’s winners, global third-culture kids. As Chinese-Malaysian novelist Tash Aw writes poetically“: “We revel in the three-dimensional nature of our hybrid cultures and languages, rejoicing in the fact that we have an instinctive understanding of how the south-east Asian archipelago weaves its cultural connections.” Yet many of the testimonials demonstrate that no amount of privilege protects you from the racism of others.I have not rated this 5 stars because, whilst I found myself connecting with the authors and their stories, I wanted - if not needed - more every time each story ended. Although upon reflection this may be unfair, given that the book purports to be, and is, a collection of short stories. Despite this, I just can’t help wishing there was more. Asian women are blighted by racist and sexist tropes: the demure, obedient little woman; the steely, relentless Tiger Mothers; and the sexy, compliant super babes. Discussing passing for white, mixed race writer Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, recounts the times she has passed but wished she hadn’t. Such as when white men tell her they rate women by race, White, Asian, and Half, wearing their racism with a strange kind of pride. Women are guilty of blatant racism too, like the random woman who says, “Alright, Ching Chong?” as Hisayo Buchanan walks past. It’s difficult to put into words how I felt when reading East Side Voices. To my knowledge, there has never been a book like this - one dedicated to the experiences of East and South East Asian people in Britain. For so long we have looked, with yearning, at the nonfiction titles coming out of the US, such as those of Cathy Park Hong, Eleanor Ty and Judy Tzu-Chun Wu. The fact that this was a historical first was a little daunting. As a British person of Vietnamese descent, I must admit that I felt somewhat apprehensive to read and review this book. What if I was disappointed? What if I didn’t feel seen? This was more than just another book in my list of 2021 reads. Its publication suddenly became about my whole identity, my whole sense of belonging in a country with which I have had a difficult relationship my entire life. Edited by Helena Lee (Acting Deputy Editor at Harper's Bazaar and East Side Voices founder) EAST SIDE VOICES invites us to explore a dazzling spectrum of experience from the East and Southeast Asian diaspora living in Britain today. Showcasing original essays and poetry from celebrities, prize-winning literary stars and exciting new writers, EAST SIDE VOICES takes us many places: from the frontlines of the NHS in the midst of the Covid pandemic, to the set of a Harry Potter film, from a bustling London restaurant to a spirit festival in Myanmar. In the process we navigate the legacies of family history, racial identity, assimilation and difference.