Writer, Editor, Photographer

Selected Stories

 

I write deeply reported narratives, news features, and essays.
Here’s a selection.

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

Narrative nonfiction

 
From Kelantan, Malaysia — In the forests of Gua Musang, indigenous Temiars are fighting against state authorities, loggers, and a durian plantation for the recognition of their ancestral land.

From Kelantan, Malaysia — In the forests of Gua Musang, indigenous Temiars are fighting against state authorities, loggers, and a durian plantation for the recognition of their ancestral land.

This Is Our Land
(Virginia Quarterly Review, Summer 2019)

Soon, their inner rhythm takes hold. A man drops to the ground. He shudders and writhes, upending the bamboo floorboards, scattering his leaf whisk so violently it turns into confetti. Other men embrace him as if to absorb his energy, or perhaps to steady him; they anoint him with their bouquets. Then, he stops still; the exposed soles of his feet, turned up, look strangely vulnerable.
The Temiar trace their origins back some five thousand years. “Sewang selombang is a tradition we inherited from our ancestors,” Dendi says. “When we dance, the spirits come, and they speak in their own way through each of us. We ask to be forgiven for all the harm we have done to this world.”
If the forest were to be razed, all this, and much more, would be lost.

 
 

The Remained
(Virginia Quarterly Review, Spring 2019)

“Growing up, we could make up two cricket teams with the young guys around here. Not anymore.”
Trevor Chen sits with his brother Stephen inside Sei Vui Club in Tiretti Bazaar, Kolkata’s old Chinatown. They’re waiting for the rest of their group to show up. They used to play gully cricket outside, Trevor says, when they had more friends. But now they’re down to just the handful of them, in their thirties and forties. “Almost all bachelors,” one of their friends would say later.
So it’s boys’ night some evenings after work, and tonight, in a hall upstairs decorated with portraits of Gandhi and Sun Yat-sen, they’ll be playing ping-pong. That, they have enough manpower for.

From Kolkata, India — On cultural survival, contentious histories, and what makes a Chinatown in this modern age in light of the drastically dwindled numbers of Chinese in the city. (Supported by the Out of Eden Walk project and the National Geographic Society.) / Newsletter outtake here.

From Kolkata, India — On cultural survival, contentious histories, and what makes a Chinatown in this modern age in light of the drastically dwindled numbers of Chinese in the city. (Supported by the Out of Eden Walk project and the National Geographic Society.) / Newsletter outtake here.

 
From Belfast, Northern Ireland — On conflicts that never die, the territorialisation of memory, and the politics of identity. / Newsletter outtake here.

From Belfast, Northern Ireland — On conflicts that never die, the territorialisation of memory, and the politics of identity. / Newsletter outtake here.

Memory Wars
(Virginia Quarterly Review, Fall 2018)

Since the Troubles ended, loyalist and republican paramilitaries once at war with one another have sat in the same room to share their experiences. They’ve met with victims in the name of truth and reconciliation. They’ve given talks to students and led wide-eyed tourists on Troubles-themed tours—something of a cottage industry here—as ambassadors of peace of a kind, so that what happened will not happen again.
But all the talking, Donnelly says, hasn’t always been productive. “Sometimes, people are revisiting old anger, and you think, Do we keep having the same conversation over and over?” 


 
 
 

Lonely Hearts Club
(Virginia Quarterly Review, Spring 2021)

To witness them proclaim their love so publicly is to be heartened in a time of increasing ethnocentrism and nationalism. They also test our assumptions about what love looks like in a globalized age, as several countries, having made the “sweetheart” exception, impose various requirements for reunion. What if you’ve only been together for six months? What if you’ve never lived together? How do you quantify the strength of love?

From around the world — Personal stories from the #loveisnottourism movement amid the coronavirus pandemic.

From around the world — Personal stories from the #loveisnottourism movement amid the coronavirus pandemic.

 

The Provenance Detective
(Virginia Quarterly Review, Summer 2022)

A recommendation—to restitute, compensate, or publicly acknowledge—is made to museums by a UK governmental panel, which only deliberates when a victim’s descendants make a claim on an object in a public collection. 
“That gives me a lot of freedom because I don’t have to think about what it all means for the collection,” Schuhmacher says. He can focus on his research and help the V&A communicate it to the public. Whereas provenance was once seen as an administrative detail, it’s now something museums can tell visitors about, through publications and exhibitions, before the full picture is clear. 
For him, the gaps are the story.

 
 
 
From Lyme Regis, England — On fossil hunting and unearthing the life of nineteenth-century palaeontologist Mary Anning along the dramatic Jurassic Coast.

From Lyme Regis, England — On fossil hunting and unearthing the life of nineteenth-century palaeontologist Mary Anning along the dramatic Jurassic Coast.

Fossil Combing
(Virginia Quarterly Review, Spring 2020)

It’s on this stretch of beach in 1812 that Mary Anning, a young girl and pioneering local fossil hunter—who would likely be better-known today had she been born a man—unearthed the remains of a whole ichthyosaur. It was like no other creature, with eyes that seemed to bulge, a body like a dolphin’s, and a mouth like a crocodile’s. Almost two hundred years later, on this same stretch of beach, Howe found his ichthyosaur. It now hangs in the local museum.
“That’s not an everyday find, and I can’t promise you one of those today. But it’s well within the range of possibilities.”

 
 
 

Welcome to the Wild Wild West—in Spain
(Roads and Kingdoms)

Perhaps it's as 27-year-old Cristian Navarro, the youngest of Oasys’ showmen, said, “Me siento mas realizado aqui"—I feel more realized here. He would rather be playing a romantic hero at Oasys than work as a ranch hand or compete in equestrian competitions, even if (in a departure from how things usually end) the sheriffs always win and he's always shot dead.

From the Tabernas desert, Almeria — A European paean to an American idea, passed from generation to generation, lives on in Spain half a century after the filming of a classic spaghetti western trilogy. / Insta outtake here.

From the Tabernas desert, Almeria — A European paean to an American idea, passed from generation to generation, lives on in Spain half a century after the filming of a classic spaghetti western trilogy. / Insta outtake here.

 
From Kelantan, Malaysia — How a Hindu epic inspired a Malaysian art form that survived attacks by Islamists and learned to love Star Wars. / Medium outtakes here and here.

From Kelantan, Malaysia — How a Hindu epic inspired a Malaysian art form that survived attacks by Islamists and learned to love Star Wars. / Medium outtakes here and here.

A New Hope
(Roads and Kingdoms & Slate)

There was no hurried pow-wow before they opened the show, no talk of what story would be performed, no ironing out of logistics. Instead, we lounged on the verandah of Abang Man's house eating keropok while discussing the virtues and foibles of the characters in the Ramayanic universe. The troupe members knew their repertoire so well they were ready to perform at a moment’s notice. The genius of a master puppeteer is his ability to improvise, to pick a story based on the audience and the mood of the troupe. No two performances—even of the same story—are ever the same.

 
 
 
From Aceh & Kuala Lumpur — The 2015 Southeast Asian boat crisis made Myanmar’s Rohingya more visible to the world, but the problems they face have persisted for decades. Now that the annual sailing season is under way, we dig into the roots of the crisis and find out what life looks like for those who made it to shore.

From Aceh & Kuala Lumpur — The 2015 Southeast Asian boat crisis made Myanmar’s Rohingya more visible to the world, but the problems they face have persisted for decades. Now that the annual sailing season is under way, we dig into the roots of the crisis and find out what life looks like for those who made it to shore.

Beyond the Sea
(Esquire Malaysia)

The last wave of boats was pushing southwards before the coming of the monsoon. Thousands of stateless Rohingya Muslims, fleeing from ethnic and religious persecution in Myanmar’s Buddhist-majority Rakhine State or untenable living conditions across the border in Bangladesh's refugee camps, were making their way across the Andaman Sea on rickety wooden boats in hope of safe refuge in Malaysia. Among them this sailing season was Muhammadul Hasson, seventeen years old and still just a boy despite the life experiences that have already conspired to make him less of one.

 
 

 
Stories of human nature are linked with pathologies of places.
— Suzanne Joinson
 

 
 
 

Reported news features on Malaysia

 

Can palm oil plantations in Sabah, which have been responsible for much of its deforestation, play a meaningful role in wildlife conservation? (Al Jazeera)
As more and more wildlife are roaming on plantation grounds, having had their natural forest habitat destroyed and fragmented, many say they must.

Stewards of the forests between land and sea (Between the Lines)
A journey through the remote wetlands of Sabah’s east coast reveals an interconnected picture of how local communities, nonprofits, and government authorities can join forces to pursue a more proactive, not just reactive, stewardship.

 

When the wrong bat met the wrong pig (South China Morning Post)
The history of the outbreak of the Nipah virus in Malaysia and why we should never forget old lessons for the future, especially in the aftermath of Covid-19.

How the hunt for the Nipah virus shaped the search for coronavirus’s origins (Washington Post) — I contributed reporting.

 

Is there still a chance to save the Malayan tiger? (Al Jazeera)

Animals we’ve lost: the vivid ‘waving’ frog that vanished suddenly (The Guardian)

 

Teen murder charge shows ‘gaps’ in Malaysia’s treatment of girls (Al Jazeera)

New sexual harassment bill edges closer to law in Malaysia (Al Jazeera)

 
Malaysia’s Sexist Citizenship Law Is Keeping Families Apart (Foreign Policy)

Malaysia’s Sexist Citizenship Law Is Keeping Families Apart (Foreign Policy)

Women’s Public Testimonies in Malaysia Reveal Persisting Gaps in Gender Equality (Heinrich Böll Stiftung)

 

In Malaysia, young people find their voice amid a pandemic (Al Jazeera)

Black and White (Esquire Singapore)

After virus outbreak tied to religious event, Malaysia puts the brakes on Ramadan (The Washington Post)

After virus outbreak tied to religious event, Malaysia puts the brakes on Ramadan (The Washington Post)

 
'A chance to do something meaningful': the refugee chefs feeding health workers in Malaysia (The Guardian) — Insta outtakes here and here.

'A chance to do something meaningful': the refugee chefs feeding health workers in Malaysia (The Guardian) — Insta outtakes here and here.

Malaysia’s Coronavirus Scapegoats (Foreign Policy)

Malaysia’s Coronavirus Scapegoats (Foreign Policy)

 
Anti-human trafficking apps were meant to save lives. They’re failing (Wired UK, supported by The Fuller Project)

Anti-human trafficking apps were meant to save lives. They’re failing (Wired UK, supported by The Fuller Project)

Fast friends, Rohingya refugees in exile rebuild their lives in Malaysia (Public Radio International)

Fast friends, Rohingya refugees in exile rebuild their lives in Malaysia (Public Radio International)

 
Petaling Street, the ‘Chinatown’ of Malaysia’s capital, bets on its heritage for a modern revival (South China Morning Post)

Petaling Street, the ‘Chinatown’ of Malaysia’s capital, bets on its heritage for a modern revival (South China Morning Post)

A Youtube Cypher Show That's Reviving Malaysian Hip-hop (Vice Asia)

A Youtube Cypher Show That's Reviving Malaysian Hip-hop (Vice Asia)

 
Life, Death, and the In Between (New Naratif)

Life, Death, and the In Between (New Naratif) — Newsletter outtake here

In the Last Room (Esquire Malaysia)

In the Last Room (Esquire Malaysia)

 
In Malaysia, one of the world's oldest rainforests awaits (CNN)

In Malaysia, one of the world's oldest rainforests awaits (CNN)

The Temuans of Damansara Perdana (Poskod Malaysia)

The Temuans of Damansara Perdana (Poskod Malaysia)

Pygmies in Peril (Esquire Malaysia)

Pygmies in Peril (Esquire Malaysia)

 
Former Leprosy Patients Search for Children They Were Forced to Give Up (The Malaysian Insider)

Former Leprosy Patients Search for Children They Were Forced to Give Up (The Malaysian Insider)

A ‘White Rajah’ returns, but this time to serve (South China Morning Post) — Newsletter outtake here

A ‘White Rajah’ returns, but this time to serve (South China Morning Post) — Newsletter outtake here

Court dispatches from London on the Batang Kali Massacre (The Malaysian Insider)

Court dispatches from London on the Batang Kali Massacre (The Malaysian Insider)

 
 

 
 
 

Essays on people & places
and exploring the world

 
Ways of Writing (The Mekong Review)  A review essay on Tim Hannigan’s Travel Writing Tribe: Journeys in Search of a Genre

Ways of Writing (The Mekong Review)
On Tim Hannigan’s Travel Writing Tribe: Journeys in Search of a Genre

 
A mini essay on travelling alone (The Lily, Washington Post)

A mini essay on travelling alone (The Lily, Washington Post)

Echo in Sahara (The Mekong Review – PDF)  A review essay on San Mao’s Stories of the Sahara.

Echo in Sahara (The Mekong Review)
On San Mao’s Stories of the Sahara

 
Killer Fish for Breakfast in the Amazon (Roads & Kingdoms)

Killer Fish for Breakfast in the Amazon (Roads & Kingdoms)

 
The Aunties of Chinatown, Guatemala (Wanderlust by Geo Ex)

The Aunties of Chinatown, Guatemala (Wanderlust by Geo Ex)

Homing Pigeon (The Mekong Review – PDF)

Homing Pigeon (The Mekong Review)