Topaz Winters
Topaz Winters (born September 25, 1999) is the pen name of Singaporean writer Priyanka Balasubramanian Aiyer.[1][2]
Topaz Winters | |
---|---|
Born | United States | September 25, 1999
Occupation | Writer |
Nationality | Singaporean |
Alma mater | Princeton University |
Period | 2013–present |
Genre | Poetry, essays |
Website | |
topazwinters |
Biography
Winters was born in the United States and has lived in Singapore since she was seven years old.[1] She graduated from Princeton University in 2023 with a B.A. in English and certificates in Creative Writing, Visual Art, and Italian. There, she studied poetry and fiction under Danez Smith, Monica Youn, Rowan Ricardo Phillips, and Joyce Carol Oates.[3] She writes on illnesses such as depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, dissociative amnesia and hyperacusis, as well as her experiences of being a queer and disabled woman of color and an immigrant.[4]
She is the author of the chapbook "Heaven or This" (2016) and the full-length poetry collections "poems for the sound of the sky before thunder" (2017)[5] and "Portrait of My Body as a Crime I'm Still Committing" (2019).[3] Her third poetry collection "So, Stranger" was released with Button Poetry in 2022.[6] She is the youngest author to be published by Math Paper Press, the youngest Singaporean nominee for the Pushcart Prize,[1] and the youngest visiting author at several MFA programs across the United States.[7]
She is the editor-in-chief at the publishing house and literary journal Half Mystic.[2] In 2023 she founded the online literary magazine Kopi Break with Max Pasakorn and Kendrick Loo, publishing new voices in Singaporean poetry.[8]
Winters wrote and appeared in the 2017 short film SUPERNOVA (directed by Ishan Modi).[9] With Crispin Rodrigues, she is the co-curator of the 2020 Singapore Writers Festival digital installation Letters From Home to Home.[10] She embarked on a book tour across the East Coast in celebration of "So, Stranger" in 2022, performing with musicians and writers in New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.[11][12]
Her peer-reviewed scholarly paper "Queering Poetics: The Impact of Poetry on LGBT+ Identity in Singaporean Adolescents" was published in the Journal of Homosexuality when she was 19 years old. She is the youngest author to be published in this journal.[13]
References
- hermesauto (2019-04-29). "The 'rebel girls' of Singapore poetry: Young, outspoken and pushing boundaries". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2020-08-06.
- "Topaz Winters: On Music, Tech And Writing". Lifestyle Guide. Retrieved 2020-08-06.
- "Topaz Winters, student and artist, makes meaning out of suffering". The Princetonian. Retrieved 2021-02-17.
- "'Worthy of taking up space': Jennifer Lee '23 founds nonprofit to support Asian Americans with disabilities". The Princetonian. Retrieved 2022-02-16.
- "poems for the sound of the sky before thunder". BooksActually. Retrieved 2020-08-06.
- "So, Stranger (Button Poetry)". Button Poetry. Retrieved 2022-05-22.
- Parker, Annamarie. "Visiting poet Topaz Winters reflects on her writing journey". The North Wind. Retrieved 2022-05-22.
- "About". Kopi Break. Retrieved 2023-08-10.
- TAN, MEGAN (2018-08-11). "A new chapter for SingLit". The Business Times. Retrieved 2020-08-06.
- "Singapore Writers Festival - Letters from Home to Home". Singapore Writers Festival. Retrieved 2021-02-17.
- lincolnvillagesun (2022-08-18). "Poet Topaz Winters curates a soulful night of music and verse at 'So, Stranger' launch". The Village Sun. Retrieved 2023-06-30.
- "Arts Briefs". The Provincetown Independent. 2022-08-17. Retrieved 2023-06-30.
- Aiyer, Priyanka (2020-01-28). "Queering Poetics: The Impact of Poetry on LGBT+ Identity in Singaporean Adolescents". Journal of Homosexuality. 67 (2): 206–222. doi:10.1080/00918369.2018.1536415. ISSN 0091-8369. PMID 30407889. S2CID 53236989.