On publishing a book!

I am hanging by a thread, but between the harsh lines of climate anxiety, work woes and grief — for our planet, for Palestine, for Jason Arday — there are clusters of hope and joy and community steadfastness that prevail in new ways.

None of this is more evident than in the people who have showed up for me as I promote and celebrate the book I have recently co-authored. Friends who drive five hours for a pot luck, strangers who bring food and swap numbers, friends who ask questions I want to answer and friends who take beautiful photos I can keep forever.

This book is about East and Southeast Asian communities in the UK: about their complex identities and contributions to activism and resistance efforts, wider solidarity with interconnected struggles, the challenges of organising and, ultimately, about navigating the polycrises with grace and care.

My relationship with this immensely difficult, humbling and personally transformative piece of work — achieved only with the comradeship of my fellow co-authors and the wisdom and grace of other community members, builders and thinkers — is still in flux. I am immeasurably proud of it, as complicated as its coming into this world may have been and as much as there are feelings and grief bundled up inside it still. The conversations and connections it continues to spark will hold an enduring place in my heart. To everyone involved in its conceptualisation, production and celebration, I am grateful.

You can buy Beyond Belonging via Bookshop.org and watch a recording of me at Edinburgh Book Fringe, hosted by Lighthouse Books, here.