Don't miss out! Subscribe to Mekong Review by 10 July to make sure you get added to our mailing list for the August–October 2026 issue. Subscriptions placed after 10 July will start with the November 2026–January 2027 print issue instead. Subscribe now: mekongreview.com/sub...

Don't miss out! Subscribe to Mekong Review by 10 July to make sure you get added to our mailing list for the August–October 2026 issue. Subscriptions placed after 10 July will start with the November 2026–January 2027 print issue instead. Subscribe now: mekongreview.com/sub...

Would you like to see Mekong Review in your library? Institutional subscriptions are available, covering our entire archive as well as upcoming issues. Recommend us to your librarian or reach out for more information: institutions.exacted...

'Arnold Is A Model Student', a film by Sorayos Prapapan, shines a light on unfairness within the Thai education system, challenging the notion of what it means to be a “model” within broken structures. 📖: mekongreview.com/flo...

Is the twenty-first century an Asian one? According to former Singaporean diplomat Bilahari Kausikan, this is entirely the wrong question to be asking. 📖: mekongreview.com/wha...

Would you like to see Mekong Review in your library? Institutional subscriptions are available, covering our entire archive as well as upcoming issues. Recommend us to your librarian or reach out for more information: institutions.exacted...

I've been asked if this was a reaction to @mekongreview.com running into issues with AI use among our contributors. It isn't, actually—I've not come across anything that's raised red flags while editing. But that doesn't mean we can assume that we'll never have to deal with AI.

Mother Mary Comes To Me is Arundhati Roy’s most astute political act; in it, she fearlessly makes her most intimate confessions and, by doing so, reclaims the conditions under which she can be known. 📖: mekongreview.com/of-...

Earlier this year, we published our policy on AI—particularly generative AI—on our website. Read it here: mekongreview.com/mek...

The publication of The Albatross File: Inside Separation is very welcome for those with an interest in the Singapore story—though less for the hitherto secret documents it reproduces and more for the hitherto secret oral histories. Read now: mekongreview.com/kee...

Good news. Mekong Review is now available in Periplus shops in Bali, Jakarta and Surabaya.

We're excited to share that Mekong Review is now available in Periplus in Indonesia! Pick up a copy of our latest issue at your nearest P+ shop or find us the next time you fly into Indonesia through one of the P+ airport terminal shops.

Packed with prose, poetry, stories, and reportage, Tsering Woeser's Ocean, as Much as Rain is essential reading for all Tibetans and for anyone who wants to understand what it means to live under colonial occupation. Read the review: mekongreview.com/wri...

I wrote for @mekongreview.com about the time Air India gifted Dali a baby elephant, which the artist pledged to ride across the Alps like Hannibal, a plan that was almost immediately abandoned when he realised that owning an elephant sucks mekongreview.com/takeoff-and-...

Our May–July 2026 issue is now available online! If you subscribe to our newsletter, you should have received the email announcement that you can use as a digital contents page: preview.mailerlite.io/preview/2318...

"Ocean, as Much as Rain" [...] is essential reading for all Tibetans and for anyone who wants to understand what it means to live under colonial occupation. Read Bhuchung D. Sonam's review in @mekongreview.com mekongreview.com/writing-back/ @woeser.bsky.social @dukepress.bsky.social

Here’s a bit more background on how Reyshimar rendered such a beautiful cover for us @mekongreview.com

One of the perks of my job as @mekongreview.com's editor is that I get the first peek at the cover art for every issue. So glad to have the opportunity to work with Asian artists on our covers and showcase their work!

Notes from Reyshimar Arguelles (@reyshist) on his process of illustrating our May–April 2026 cover 😍

I was really into Disney films as a kid and shed many tears watching Bambi and never knew the story of Tyrus Wong, the Chinese American artist who was the lead production illustrator.

Artist Tyrus Wong’s extraordinary 106 years on earth, told in meticulous detail by Karen Fang, is a story of resilience and triumph. Read the review by Frankie Huang 黄碧赤 at mekongreview.com/i-a...

Our May–July 2026 issue has been added to our online store! If you'd like to order a print copy (or even more than one!) head over to ko-fi.com/mekongrevi...

Sri Lanka’s railways aren’t just conveyances with spectacular views; they’re also an integral part of the country’s story. Read here: mekongreview.com/the...

"There’s poignancy in the idea of artistic ambition sacrificed for something as fundamental as war—of trading words for bullets." Read Oliver Raw's review of Frontline Poets: mekongreview.com/tra...

Latest literary venture by Minh Bui Jones (founding editor before this of @thediplomat.com & @mekongreview.com as well as publisher of Bui Jones Books), a Granta-style magazine focused on Southeast Asia, should be special like everything he does buijones.com/books/yellow/

For more than 60 years, Parsiana carried the stories, debates, and perspectives of the Parsi community. But with an ageing team and a dwindling community, the magazine printed its final issue in October 2025. Read more about Parsiana: mekongreview.com/the...

Censorship is common in Kashmir, but people find ways to read what the authorities say they shouldn't. In our February 2026 issue, Adil Amin Akhoon takes a look at how readers persist even as the government orders titles off shelves. Read here: mekongreview.com/qui...

Since our first Writers' Room event is about music, we've put together a playlist for it! Check it out here: youtube.com/playlist... It's not too late to register for the session: subscribepage.io/MRw...

Our May–July 2026 issue is in the works and will soon be off to the printers! Make sure you're on our mailing list by getting your subscription to Mekong Review by the end of this week: mekongreview.com/sub...

As commercially successful international music gets adopted and integrated locally, how does the fusion of new musical influences still authentically reflect local communities and their culture? We tackle this question and more at our first-ever Writers Room! RSVP here: subscribepage.io/MRw...

New event! 📆12th April 🕕6pm Singapore time @mekongreview.com hold their 1st "Writers Room" discussion session online, feat @kirstenhan.com, Pippo Carmona & Ilya Katrinnada, they'll be discussing the topic What makes music ‘national’ or representative of a community? subscribepage.io/MRwritersroom

Writers' Room is a new virtual series where, every quarter, we invite Mekong Review contributors to discuss their work, making connections and drawing parallels across Asia. RSVP for our kickoff event about 'national' music, culture, and community: subscribepage.io/MRw...

Highlighting some free-to-read pieces from @mekongreview.com’s latest issue (February 2026): First up, Aung Naing Soe on ground sentiment of the election that the Myanmar military forced through in December/January. mekongreview.com/the-unwanted...

Another free-to-read piece from @mekongreview.com's February issue: @calumstuart.bsky.social's interview with Fred Chin and the horrific experience of being a political prisoner during Taiwan's White Terror era: mekongreview.com/cautionary-t...

Free-to-read from @mekongreview.com's February 2026 issue! Nathalie Chi on the scapegoating of bamboo scaffolding in Hong Kong's Tai Po fire, and how international media outlets that adopted that framing were letting the authorities off the hook too easily: mekongreview.com/cultural-mis...

A new web-only piece on Mekong Review: a short comic by C.S. Bhagya on the lived realities of daily commuting in Bangalore (officially, Bengaluru). Read it here: mekongreview.com/the...

One more friendly nudge! #asianliterature

I somehow wrote a book review during the first two months of my baby’s life. I am pleased to share my debut in @mekongreview.com, a piece which examines how the life of one immigrant ancestor is remembered and celebrated, but also how we might criticize his choices in the name of survival. (1/)

The new issue of @mekongreview.com has a bunch of sound and music stuff, including this lovely piece about street cries in Vietnam, which happens to be open-access. By Phạm Thu Trang. mekongreview.com/street-cries/

The story of a Malaysian student who was imprisoned in Taiwan for 12 years on false charges during the White Terror period [Warning: descriptions of torture] mekongreview.com/cautionary-t...

Thank you! 🙏🏼

If you read @mekongreview.com—even if it's just picking up an issue from time to time when you see it in a bookstore or browse our website—please take a moment to fill in our reader survey. tinyurl.com/MR2026survey

Reader surveys are important and useful because they allow us to get a better sense of who our readers and subscribers are, what draws people to Mekong Review, and what our community is most interested in reading and learning about. Take the survey now: tinyurl.com/MR2026su...

Our February–April 2026 issue is now available online! Check it out... or better yet, subscribe and never miss an issue: mekongreview.com/sub...

Ngiam Li Yi, who illustrated our February–April 2026, shares a little of the process. Subscribe to Mekong Review: mekongreview.com/sub...

We're pleased to share that our February–April 2026 issue is now available! You can order a copy from our online Ko-Fi shop: ko-fi.com/mekongrevi... (And perhaps consider subscribing annually, too!)

I was really glad for the opportunity to interview Hakamata Hideko. It's not at all easy to have to fight for a loved one on death row, and she stuck with it for such a long, long time.

In our November 2025 issue, we interviewed Hakamata Hideko about her decades-long fight for her brother Iwao—likely the world's longest-serving death row prisoner, finally fully acquitted of murder in Japan in 2024. Read more: mekongreview.com/bri...

Our February 2026 issue is in the works! Subscribe by 10 January 2026 to make sure you're on the mailing list. Subscribe now: mekongreview.com/sub... Print subscriptions that come in after 10 January will start with the May 2026 issue.

A very happy new year, one and all! 🎉