Milestones: a NutMag Anthology (2025)
writers
Adam Heskey Low was born in George Town, Penang and grew up in various places within and around the Heritage area. With a childhood spent backpacking with his parents and being homeschooled, he now writes.
An adventurer and juggler of all things creative, Anne Wong Synpuhn is always inspired by life and the people around her. An amateur creative in her own right, Anne enjoys weaving between art and storytelling that imitates life as she sees it.
Cheah Mi Chelle is a copywriter. She holds a BA in English and an MA in English Literary Studies. Her academic research interests include posthuman embodiment and identity, as well as the interplay of text and image in comics. When not stressing over article deadlines and content calendars, Mi Chelle loves getting lost in stories about sentient robots, found families, and the power of friendship. In addition to copy-editing a biography, Mi Chelle’s writing has appeared in Penang Monthly. Currently rediscovering a love of creative writing, Mi Chelle hopes to write a novel someday.
Colleen Lean is an educator and lifelong literature enthusiast based in Penang with a passion for storytelling in all its forms.
Diyaa Mani is a writer and poet based in Penang Island. When she isn’t writing for work, she writes for fun. Her works are usually found under her pseudonyms, Serendipity and NightShade. She writes about fantasy, feminism, human rights, the environment, and poetry. She is currently jumping back and forth writing two novels simultaneously and making progress on neither.
Diyaa is an advocate for mental health awareness. Being neurodivergent from a young age, it was a struggle to fit into the society in general until she discovered writing as a part of her therapy.
Their work can be found on Instagram.
Nightshade's work appears in NutMag Volume 3: Island Living, NutMag Volume 4: Transitions, Home Groan, NutMag Volume 5: Lost, and NutMag Volume 6: Hope.
Diyaa is an advocate for mental health awareness. Being neurodivergent from a young age, it was a struggle to fit into the society in general until she discovered writing as a part of her therapy.
Their work can be found on Instagram.
Nightshade's work appears in NutMag Volume 3: Island Living, NutMag Volume 4: Transitions, Home Groan, NutMag Volume 5: Lost, and NutMag Volume 6: Hope.
Eileyn Chua is a lawyer, burn survivor, writer and motivational speaker. Having miraculously survived a gas explosion in 2016, her perception of life has changed. Currently, she is frustrated because her memoir about her life as a burn survivor is taking too long to complete.
Eileyn's work also appears in NutMag 8: Harmony.
Eileyn's work also appears in NutMag 8: Harmony.
Emily Goh Yi En is a Penang-born freelance copywriter, content strategist, and aspiring fiction writer. When she’s not writing, you can find this cosy homebody reading, experimenting in the kitchen, or indulging in some obsessive cleaning.
E.T. is a music enthusiast who grew up immersed in the novels of Jane Austen and the Brontë sisters. Driven by a lifelong love for the beauty of words and music, she has a keen interest in how these forms of expression can complement each other. When not daydreaming, she is often found with one hand on the piano and a book in the other, seeking new connections where melodies and stories intertwine.
Originally from Samoa and Aotearoa, Fetuolemoana Elisara is proud and grateful to call Penang home. Their work can be found in Voice & Verse, Mingled Voices 5, So Many Islands, and Kinalamten Gi Pasifiku, etc.
Fyiona Yong is the author of How to Thrive as a Misfit and the host of The Thriving Misfits podcast. A two-time TEDx speaker, Fyiona is a leading Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Leadership Coach who helps global organizations create inclusive, high-performing teams. With over 14 years of corporate leadership experience, she founded Wholistic Coachsulting Ltd. to guide leaders through the challenges of cultural and generational differences.
Featured in Forbes and Financial Times, Fyiona brings a unique cross-cultural perspective shaped by her Malaysian-Chinese roots and global experiences. Through her podcast, she interviews misfits, celebrating their stories and showing others how to embrace their own uniqueness and thrive.
Featured in Forbes and Financial Times, Fyiona brings a unique cross-cultural perspective shaped by her Malaysian-Chinese roots and global experiences. Through her podcast, she interviews misfits, celebrating their stories and showing others how to embrace their own uniqueness and thrive.
Jaline Wellington has a Chemistry Degree and has held supervisory-level positions in Production and Human Resources at a silicon manufacturing plant. Subsequently she went on to teach English to various groups of non-English speaking students. While in secondary school, she developed an interest in writing poems about her school friends and later, working colleagues. She writes short narrative poems and articles about real incidents. She likes being with children and making short videos.
Life’s journey brought Jasper Bui to Penang in 2022. Born in Vietnam and raised in California, he has visited more than 30 countries, of which five, including Malaysia, have been called “home.” A background in English literature, education, and personnel development opens up opportunities for him wherever he goes, financing his outdoor hobbies of hiking, climbing, diving, and, of course, running. Jasper shares his adventures with the love of his life, Donna, and their two children.
Joelynn Chin ialah seorang penulis yang meyandang pelbagai identiti. Walaupun telah menetap di Kuala Lumpur selama 26 tahun, beliau masih memper-kenalkan dirinya sebagai “berasal dari Pulau Pinang”. Dilahirkan di sebelah pulau, beliau kerap berpindah-randah ke negeri-negeri lain semasa zaman kanak-kanaknya, mengikut bapanya yang bertugas dalam tentera udara, sebelum keluarganya akhirnya menetap di Seberang Jaya.
Joelynn berdarah separuh Cina, satu suku Peranakan, satu suku Serani, dan 100% rakyat Malaysia —satu-satunya label yang beliau selesa pakai.
Fakta menarik: Joelynn menulis dengan tangan kiri tetapi melakukan semua aktiviti lain dengan tangan kanan.
Joelynn berdarah separuh Cina, satu suku Peranakan, satu suku Serani, dan 100% rakyat Malaysia —satu-satunya label yang beliau selesa pakai.
Fakta menarik: Joelynn menulis dengan tangan kiri tetapi melakukan semua aktiviti lain dengan tangan kanan.
Jonathan Sim teaches Drama and English, and he enjoys devising plays and having lively discussions with students on society and its intricacies—especially when textual analysis is involved. Outside of work, he spends time with loved ones: trying restaurants, exploring parks, and playing games.
JY Tan was born in Penang to parents who encouraged a reading habit, but did not expect her to devote her life to studying and writing stories. She mostly writes short stories and novels for an audience she has yet to find, but also dabbles in poetry and playwriting.
Currently, JY splits her time between her family on Penang Island and her extended family on the mainland. When she isn’t working her day job to feed her oyen son, she is reminding herself that outlining detailed plots for cool ideas is not the same thing as writing.
JY's work also appears in NutMag Volume 4: Transitions, Home Groan, NutMag Volume 5: Lost, NutMag Volume 6: Hope, NutMag 7: Inheritance and NutMag 8: Harmony.
Currently, JY splits her time between her family on Penang Island and her extended family on the mainland. When she isn’t working her day job to feed her oyen son, she is reminding herself that outlining detailed plots for cool ideas is not the same thing as writing.
JY's work also appears in NutMag Volume 4: Transitions, Home Groan, NutMag Volume 5: Lost, NutMag Volume 6: Hope, NutMag 7: Inheritance and NutMag 8: Harmony.
A native Penang islander, Mandy Chee is fascinated by all things musical, history, and wildlife. She is more comfortable penning her thoughts than initiating conversations. Creativity and words elude her 90% of the time—and the remaining 10% come at the most random moments. When she’s not reading or hiding in her bubble, you may find her in her backyard learning to ID birds.
Mandy's work also appears in Home Groan.
Mandy's work also appears in Home Groan.
Nadia Rose Noordin is passionate about postcards, history, reading, folklores and poetry, heritage and culture, as well as cooking, especially re-learning heirloom recipes, improvising from what’s left in the fridge, and baking—only recently and very simple recipes. She would roam around Tanjong on odd quiet weekends when Penangites have the island to themselves, even for just a glimpse of an hour or two to indulge in a bit of photography and, of course, char koay teow and ais tingkap.
Ngo Tjer Hong is a playwright, critic, and researcher whose work explores memory, urban transformation, and the politics of cultural heritage. Previously based in Taipei, he has recently returned to Penang, where he continues to write across theatre, history, and translation, grounding his practice in multilingual and site-specific inquiry. His research traces the erasures produced in the name of preservation, with particular attention to public space, postcolonial identity, and the evolving futures of performance beyond the World Heritage Site.
Samantha Khoo is a contemporary fiction writer who likes Penang very, very much. In her leisure, she indulges in other forms of writing, like screenwriting, stand-up comedy, and clever advertising. She documents the whimsical things in life on her Instagram, @breakfastmonster_ .
Shumin Tan is an educator who enjoys writing on the side. She writes personal essays and poetry that wander through questions of home, language, and identity. A third-culture kid at heart, her works have found homes in Singapore Unbound, Jom Magazine, and at the European Cultural Centre.
Swarna Rajagopal was born and raised in Penang. She had hoped to be a public policy researcher when she forayed into the arts. She spent seven editions as the Festival Manager of the award-winning George Town Literary Festival, shaping conversations and curating literary experiences.
Today, she is an arts manager passionate about storytelling, cultural exchange, and the written word. She is now exploring new creative directions beyond festival management, to writing, research, and projects that connect literature and culture. She reads and occasionally writes but her writings are mostly kept secret.
Today, she is an arts manager passionate about storytelling, cultural exchange, and the written word. She is now exploring new creative directions beyond festival management, to writing, research, and projects that connect literature and culture. She reads and occasionally writes but her writings are mostly kept secret.
Wahida Kamal writes during the wistful spells when she realises that words do not conjure themselves into existence. A devoted homebody, though she may be lured outside in exchange for an iced latte. She works a corporate job in which, against her will, she finds a wicked joy.
Wahida's work also appears in NutMag Volume 6: Hope.
Wahida's work also appears in NutMag Volume 6: Hope.
Anyone who knows Wilson Khor W.H. long enough in the Penang writing community would tell you that despite how he looks, his iconic jinbei outerwear is just the start of a long list of things that will leave you an impression.
An author of countless zine publications since 2013, his most significant work is Sampaguita, the poetry-travelogue he wrote on his pre-pandemic trip to the Philippine cities of Manila and Baguio. In the MYWriters Penang community, he plays a key role in the production of its NutMag anthology as Working Desk Publishing, a one-man publishing house that helms the presence and distribution of English zines in West Malaysia.
Wilson's work also appears in NutMag Volume 1, NutMag Volume 2: Coffee or Tea?, NutMag 3: Island Living, Home Groan, NutMag Volume 6: Hope. and NutMag 8: Harmony.
An author of countless zine publications since 2013, his most significant work is Sampaguita, the poetry-travelogue he wrote on his pre-pandemic trip to the Philippine cities of Manila and Baguio. In the MYWriters Penang community, he plays a key role in the production of its NutMag anthology as Working Desk Publishing, a one-man publishing house that helms the presence and distribution of English zines in West Malaysia.
Wilson's work also appears in NutMag Volume 1, NutMag Volume 2: Coffee or Tea?, NutMag 3: Island Living, Home Groan, NutMag Volume 6: Hope. and NutMag 8: Harmony.
Yin F Lim is a Malaysian-born writer and editor who now lives in Norwich, UK. A former journalist, Yin holds a Biography and Creative Non-Fiction MA from the University of East Anglia. Her creative non-fiction is published in anthologies and literary journals including The Other Side of Hope, Moxy, and Hinterland magazine for creative non-fiction, where she is an associate editor. She recently won the Mo Siewcharran Prize for her work-in-progress: a family memoir about her maternal grandmother’s emigration from Taishan, South China to George Town, Penang.
Cover ARtist & Art Director
Chew Yuin-Y is an artist and an educator. Her recent notable projects include the brand identities for local Malaysian swing jazz band The Frankie Sixes and the KLSwing Fest lindy hop community event in 2023. She was also a contributing illustrator to the 2020 Penang-based anthology Home Groan and was one of five winners for The Tokyoiter Exhibition organised by the Japan Foundation Kuala Lumpur in 2024.
Her work prioritises being pleasing to the eye and the mind, combining a mixture of influences from the East and the West—from mid-century modern graphic styles to Nyona batik patterns.
Yuin-Y is from Penang and is currently based in Kuala Lumpur, teaching in the School of Media and Communication at Taylor’s University. Her personal art can be found on Instagram (@elvenstar).
Her work prioritises being pleasing to the eye and the mind, combining a mixture of influences from the East and the West—from mid-century modern graphic styles to Nyona batik patterns.
Yuin-Y is from Penang and is currently based in Kuala Lumpur, teaching in the School of Media and Communication at Taylor’s University. Her personal art can be found on Instagram (@elvenstar).
Illustrators
Dhiyanah Hassan is an artist and writer whose work focuses on reclaiming and nurturing the imagination while celebrating diversity and nature-based themes. Dhiyanah navigates invisible disabilities and chronic pain, realities which inform her multi-disciplinary practice and processes.
Recently, her art has appeared in Atthis Arts’ 2025 Book Catalogue and Small Wonders magazine. She was also the 3rd place winner for 2024’s Dream Foundry art contest for emerging SFF artists.
Esther Wong is a self-taught artist who enjoys drawing cute chibi characters—often inspired by her favourite anime or created as gifts for friends. With a background in architecture, she also loves doing ink-textured sketches of buildings and backgrounds, usually referencing anime scenes or photos taken during her travels. She is inspired by cozy corners in cities, the gentle mood of anime backgrounds, and the stories behind old buildings. Esther is excited to be part of Nutmag’s Milestones anthology, where she can share her quiet love for places, textures, and characters through illustration.
Ryou is a freelance illustrator from Penang. She graduated from art school, and had most of her experiences working on background art for casual games, as well as some children book illustrations. She loves to explore different kind of art styles, and is always interested in working on illustrations for books!
Vini Jill is a product designer in the corporate world. She finds open windows to pour her creativity in other areas such as writing and art. If she’s not designing user-centric products, she can be found lost in a whirlpool of words or inks, trying to carve a story on pen and paper.
This anthology presents as a golden opportunity for her to venture into a fresh new space that she’s never tried before—the publishing industry.
Recently, her art has appeared in Atthis Arts’ 2025 Book Catalogue and Small Wonders magazine. She was also the 3rd place winner for 2024’s Dream Foundry art contest for emerging SFF artists.
Esther Wong is a self-taught artist who enjoys drawing cute chibi characters—often inspired by her favourite anime or created as gifts for friends. With a background in architecture, she also loves doing ink-textured sketches of buildings and backgrounds, usually referencing anime scenes or photos taken during her travels. She is inspired by cozy corners in cities, the gentle mood of anime backgrounds, and the stories behind old buildings. Esther is excited to be part of Nutmag’s Milestones anthology, where she can share her quiet love for places, textures, and characters through illustration.
Ryou is a freelance illustrator from Penang. She graduated from art school, and had most of her experiences working on background art for casual games, as well as some children book illustrations. She loves to explore different kind of art styles, and is always interested in working on illustrations for books!
Vini Jill is a product designer in the corporate world. She finds open windows to pour her creativity in other areas such as writing and art. If she’s not designing user-centric products, she can be found lost in a whirlpool of words or inks, trying to carve a story on pen and paper.
This anthology presents as a golden opportunity for her to venture into a fresh new space that she’s never tried before—the publishing industry.
