Based in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal, Dédé Chen is an author and filmmaker interested in exploring the dynamics of filiation. She holds a degree in anthropology from Laval University and completed a master’s in international relations at the University of Beijing. Upon her return, she began developing a writing practice, blending poetics and politics, and focusing on themes such as sexual violence, the body as territory, and archival work. She co-edited Les Asiatitudes (2024), the first French-language anthology of authors descending from Asian diasporas in Quebec, and has published autofiction works in literary journals such as Le double de la mère in Moebius (2021), Femmage in Le Crachoir de Flaubert (2022), and Renasiance in Estuaire (2024). Her first short film, Papaya (2022), premiered at the Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival, and was awarded the Prix du Coup de Coeur at the Festival Accès Asie, as well as an honorable mention at the Festival Filministes and the Vancouver Festival of Recorded Movement.

She feels a need to reconnect with her community of origin in the city and amplify the voices of adopted people. In 2021, she co-founded Soft Gong, the first French-speaking organization by and for adoptees from China.

Murielle Chan-Chu arrived in Montreal from Madagascar at the age of three. She has been a literature professor at Collège Montmorency since 2009, with a particular interest in questions of identity, feminism, queer studies, anti-racism, and anti-capitalism. Through her writing, she explores the remnants of memory, a project she has been developing for some time.

One of these works, La mémoire-passoire, was selected for the preliminary list of the 2025 Radio-Canada Short Story Prize and will also be published as part of the project Nous ne mourrons pas deux fois by CRILCQ. Another piece, Comme une chienne errante, will appear in issue 187 of the journal Moebius.

Nay Theam has been writing poetry for over ten years and occasionally shares her work. Of Cambodian origin, born in Quebec City, she still speaks a little Khmer, but mainly speaks French. She teaches literature at CEGEP in what she considers to be a decolonial approach. Trained in literature, she is beginning doctoral studies on the relationship to the northern territory in Innu, Atikamekw, and Southeast Asian literature. Her artistic practices are part of a writing of memory. Poetry intimidates her less than before, and she likes to tell her family history in bits and pieces. Her writings have been published in Littoral magazine (2024 and 2025) and others will appear in l’Estuaire (2026).

She performs regularly at Asian open mics organized by Claudia Chan Tak and Rich Ly, and in 2025, she co-organized a special edition with them at Collège de Maisonneuve. She was a guest artist at the Asian open mic at the Centre du théâtre d’aujourd’hui in 2024.

She directs the Lire, voir et écouter l’Asie (Read, See, and Listen to Asia) project, which seeks to promote Asian perspectives in educational settings through various outreach activities. She recently organized (Re)lire le Cambodge (Rereading Cambodia), a literary journey focusing on several stories by Cambodian authors written in French.

Her work is part of a desire to give a voice to marginalized communities. Because existing is essential.

A French-Canadian novelist of Korean origin, Philippe Yong has lived in Montreal for 11 years, where he teaches literature at Collège Stanislas. He is the author of two novels that have been well received by the public and critics, Hors-sol (2022. Special mention from the public at the Prix Senghor du premier roman, Quebec selection for the Rendez-vous du premier roman) and Les yeux clos (2025. Ranked among the ten Quebec novels of the year by La Presse).

Tamara Nguyen is an author and dramaturgical advisor. In 2016, she obtained a bachelor’s degree in French literature and philosophy from the University of Montreal, and in 2019, she completed a course in playwriting at the National Theatre School of Canada. Her play Légendes de canapé was staged by Héloïse Desrochers in 2020 at the Théâtre des Béloufilles. In 2023, the play Bonnes Bonnes, which she co-wrote with Sophie Gee, was presented at the Théâtre Aux Écuries. That same year, her play Les papillons du littoral was staged by Claudia Chan Tak at Quai 5160. In the spring of 2024, her play Maelström was directed by Annie Ranger at Théâtre Aux Écuries. In the fall of 2024, her play La démagogie des dragons was staged by Vincent Kim at Centre du Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui.

As a dramaturgical advisor, Tamara worked with Claudia Chan Tak on Au revoir zébu, presented at La Chapelle in 2022, and with Stephie Mazunya on the play S’enjailler, presented at the Centre du Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui in 2024. Tamara is interested in political satire and how art can slow down the flow of current events to allow for deeper reflection.