Drawing on her more than 10 years of experience working at Harper’s Bazaar – where she is responsible for the publication’s art and culture content, often collaborating and commissioning award-winning writers and artists, the collection brings together a selection of original essays and poetry from celebrities, prize-winning literary stars and exciting new writers. East Side Voices is a collection of essays written by people with East and South East Asian identity that lives in Britain. The themes and topics explored in this were very wide, which i appreciate. Every single essay is different from one another as they are all written by different people so it was refreshing to hear about each of their experiences but at the same time, the heart of the essays are the same which is about their journey of assimilating and accepting their identity and their experiences being Asian in Britain.

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

This book was a great insight into the lives of individuals in the East and Southeast Asian (ESEA) community living in the UK, and some of the difficulties they have faced as a result of being from this community. Most poignant to me were the stories of the desire to assimilate and be accepted, and the associated hardships. As someone from the ESEA community who lives in England, I truly resonated with many of these accounts. I wish that I had read this book much earlier in life.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. 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.

East Side Voices by | Hachette UK East Side Voices by | Hachette UK

Joanna Lee said: “In 2022’s East Side Voices, Helena Lee talks about the ‘cycle of systemic non-representation’ of British east and south-east Asian identity. In publishing and the media more widely, we’ve found this to be true and endlessly frustrating – our aim with the ESEA Lit Fest is to disrupt this cycle, create space for solidarity, and showcase the breadth of ESEA talent from across the diaspora. We’re thrilled to be partnering with Foyles on this initiative and are excited about what’s to come.”The festival will take place at Foyles’ flagship store on Charing Cross Road in London on 23 September, during ESEA Heritage Month. This series of essays about Asian Identity in Britain, features not just writers, but actors, chefs and individuals in other professions writing about their own personal experience. Edited by Helena Lee, there is the common thread linking the essays, but each stands alone, and can be read in isolation.