Topaz Winters

Last updated
Topaz Winters
Born (1999-09-25) September 25, 1999 (age 25)
United States
OccupationWriter
NationalitySingaporean
Alma materPrinceton University
Period2013–present
GenrePoetry, essays
Website
topazwinters.com

Topaz Winters (born September 25, 1999) is the pen name of Singaporean-American writer Priyanka Balasubramanian Aiyer. [1] [2]

Contents

Early life and education

Winters was born in the United States and grew up in Singapore from when 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]

Career

Winters 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" (Math Paper Press 2017), [5] "Portrait of My Body as a Crime I'm Still Committing" (2019), [3] and "So, Stranger" (Button Poetry 2022). [6] In 2024, Button Poetry issued a reprint of her second, self-published book "Portrait of My Body as a Crime I'm Still Committing" in a five year anniversary edition, with new poems and a foreword by Blythe Baird. [7]

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. [8]

She is the editor-in-chief at the publishing house and literary journal Half Mystic, which has published work by KB Brookins, Alexandra Eldridge, Mree, and The Haunt. [2] In 2023 she founded the online literary magazine Kopi Break with Max Pasakorn and Kendrick Loo, publishing new voices in Singaporean poetry. [9]

Winters wrote and appeared in the 2017 short film SUPERNOVA (directed by Ishan Modi). [10] With Crispin Rodrigues, she is the co-curator of the 2020 Singapore Writers Festival digital installation Letters From Home to Home. [11] 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. [12] [13] She has performed her poetry at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Center for Fiction, and the Singapore Writers Festival. [14]

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. [15]

Works

Poems

Books

Scholarly papers

Edited

Personal life

Winters moved to New York City after graduating from Princeton University in 2023. She is single and uses she/they pronouns. [1] She owns a black cat named Volta. [49]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 hermesauto (2019-04-29). "The 'rebel girls' of Singapore poetry: Young, outspoken and pushing boundaries". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2020-08-06.
  2. 1 2 "Topaz Winters: On Music, Tech And Writing". Lifestyle Guide. Retrieved 2020-08-06.
  3. 1 2 "Topaz Winters, student and artist, makes meaning out of suffering". The Princetonian. Retrieved 2021-02-17.
  4. ↑ "'Worthy of taking up space': Jennifer Lee '23 founds nonprofit to support Asian Americans with disabilities". The Princetonian. Retrieved 2022-02-16.
  5. ↑ "poems for the sound of the sky before thunder". BooksActually. Archived from the original on January 29, 2018. Retrieved 2020-08-06.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  6. ↑ "So, Stranger (Button Poetry)". Button Poetry. Retrieved 2022-05-22.
  7. ↑ "Portrait of my Body as a Crime I'm Still Committing". Button Poetry. Retrieved 2023-11-19.
  8. ↑ Parker, Annamarie. "Visiting poet Topaz Winters reflects on her writing journey". The North Wind. Retrieved 2022-05-22.
  9. ↑ "About". Kopi Break. Retrieved 2023-08-10.
  10. ↑ TAN, MEGAN (2018-08-11). "A new chapter for SingLit". The Business Times. Retrieved 2020-08-06.
  11. ↑ "Singapore Writers Festival - Letters from Home to Home". Singapore Writers Festival. Retrieved 2021-02-17.
  12. ↑ 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.
  13. ↑ "Arts Briefs". The Provincetown Independent. 2022-08-17. Retrieved 2023-06-30.
  14. ↑ "Emerging Talent and Legendary Artists Celebrated The YoungArts Gala at The Metropolitan Museum of Art". Vogue. 2024-04-09. Retrieved 2024-04-15.
  15. 1 2 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.
  16. ↑ "Idol". The Drift. 2024-03-12. Retrieved 2024-04-15.
  17. ↑ "Issue 45". Passages North. Retrieved 2024-04-15.
  18. ↑ "Topaz Winters". The Boiler. 2023-04-12. Retrieved 2023-11-19.
  19. ↑ Poets, Academy of American. "2022 Academy of American Poets Prize". Poets.org. Retrieved 2023-11-19.
  20. ↑ "Home Ghazal (Alvin Says, It Is What We Love That Gives Us Our Names) by Topaz Winters". www.hobartpulp.com. Retrieved 2023-11-19.
  21. ↑ Winters, Topaz. "Terrible Things Are Happening in New Jersey!". ex-puritan.ca. Retrieved 2023-11-19.
  22. ↑ "Topaz Winters". diode poetry journal. Retrieved 2023-11-19.
  23. ↑ Winters, Topaz. "& When I Say the Word Hunger You Know I'm Speaking of Resurrection | Tinderbox Poetry Journal" . Retrieved 2023-11-19.
  24. ↑ "Issue 8: Topaz Winters". Green Linden Press. Retrieved 2023-11-19.
  25. ↑ "Week 33: Topaz Winters". DIALOGIST. 2019-08-16. Retrieved 2023-11-19.
  26. ↑ "Topaz Winters". Ghost City Press. 2019-08-02. Retrieved 2023-11-19.
  27. ↑ "by Topaz Winters". tenderness lit. Retrieved 2023-11-19.
  28. ↑ "Topaz Winters | Birdfeast 14". www.birdfeastmagazine.com. Retrieved 2023-11-19.
  29. ↑ occulum (2018-10-31). "Origin Story | by Topaz Winters". Occulum. Retrieved 2023-11-19.
  30. ↑ "Winters". Sundog. 2018-09-16. Retrieved 2023-11-19.
  31. ↑ "I Start Crying During the Best Part of the Film – Rust & Moth". rustandmoth.com. Retrieved 2023-11-19.
  32. ↑ "You Make Yourself Another by Lucy Hannah Ryan". Half Mystic. Retrieved 2023-11-21.
  33. ↑ "Half Mystic Journal Issue X: Elegy". Half Mystic. Retrieved 2023-11-21.
  34. ↑ "Waiting for Frank Ocean in Cairo by Hazem Fahmy". Half Mystic. Retrieved 2023-11-21.
  35. ↑ "Half Mystic Journal Issue IX: Synaesthesia". Half Mystic. Retrieved 2023-11-21.
  36. ↑ "Half Mystic Journal Issue VIII: Sforzando". Half Mystic. Retrieved 2023-11-21.
  37. ↑ "Say Mother Say Hand by Marie Conlan". Half Mystic. Retrieved 2023-11-21.
  38. ↑ "The Family That Carried Their House on Their Backs by Sammie Downing". Half Mystic. Retrieved 2023-11-21.
  39. ↑ "Hag by Tamara Jobe". Half Mystic. Retrieved 2023-11-21.
  40. ↑ "Half Mystic Journal Issue VII: Aubade". Half Mystic. Retrieved 2023-11-21.
  41. ↑ "Half Mystic Journal Issue VI: Interlude". Half Mystic. Retrieved 2023-11-21.
  42. ↑ "Crowd Surfing With God: 5 Year Anniversary Special Edition by Adrienne Novy [PREORDER]". Half Mystic. Retrieved 2023-11-21.
  43. ↑ "Half Mystic Journal Issue V: Cadenza". Half Mystic. Retrieved 2023-11-21.
  44. ↑ "Knock by Melissa Atkinson Mercer". Half Mystic. Retrieved 2023-11-21.
  45. ↑ "Half Mystic Journal Issue IV: Grazioso". Half Mystic. Retrieved 2023-11-21.
  46. ↑ "Half Mystic Journal Issue III: Nocturne". Half Mystic. Retrieved 2023-11-21.
  47. ↑ "Half Mystic Journal Issue II: Saudade". Half Mystic. Retrieved 2023-11-21.
  48. ↑ "Half Mystic Journal Issue I: Allegro". Half Mystic. Retrieved 2023-11-21.
  49. ↑ "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved 2024-04-15.
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