Maureen Tai
banner
maureentai.com
Maureen Tai
@maureentai.com
Writer & Visual Storyteller/Inspired by Asian Culture & Universal Truths/Rep’d by @KarlyDizon.bsky.social/ My work at www.maureentai.com
I’ll be in Singapore next month as part of #SWF2025 @swf2025.bsky.social! I’ll be talking about my story, The Magic In Ming’s Hands 🥰 15-16 Nov. Catch you there! www.singaporewritersfestival.com/swf-2025/fea...
Maureen Tai
Maureen Tai is an award-winning Malaysian writer with works published in literary journals and online magazines such as Cha , Mekong Review and Voice and V...
www.singaporewritersfestival.com
October 10, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Reposted by Maureen Tai
THE LIBRARIANS @thelibrariansfilm.bsky.social is a *must-see.*

Thanks to @ifla.org Met Lib for the private screening at Toronto Reference Library.

Terrifying, deeply moving. I know several of the librarians & recognized books by many #KidLit #YALit friends. 😢

#BannedBooksWeek #LibrarySky

cont'd
October 8, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Relocation to Toronto complete, I'm reading & reviewing again. Mishka is about an Afghani girl & her pet rabbit, co-authored by @edwardvandevendel.bsky.social & Anoush Elman, illustrated by @annetschaap.bsky.social & translated from the Dutch by Nancy Forest-Flier 🐇🇦🇫🇳🇱

maureentai.com/2025/10/04/m...
Mishka (Chapter Book) | maureentai.com
maureentai.com
October 5, 2025 at 10:22 AM
Reposted by Maureen Tai
FlashFlood: 'A Tropical Winter' by Maureen Tai #nffd2025
'A Tropical Winter' by Maureen Tai
We stand around the big white box. It’s humming softly but I can hardly hear it over my pounding heart. My lips are dry, like my throat.  Marianne steps on my foot. We giggle and squirm. Margot shoots us angry looks. Her parents named her after a famous dancer, but no one speaks French, so instead, we call her Maggot. She’s the only one in the whole school who has touched real snow.  She slides the glass doors open.  “Your whole head goes inside, okay?”  We stand on tiptoe and bend full forward, our faces smarting from the bursts of cold clouds. I hold my breath like I’m underwater. I look at the dead fish, the huddled-together prawns, the slabs of frozen meat. I close my eyes and try to imagine a snowman. He has a woolly hat and a carrot nose.  Marianne, or perhaps Wei Li, yanks my arm. “Someone’s coming!” Squealing, we turn and run out of the supermarket into the tropical heat, our flip-flops stopping only once we reach the playground.  “THAT’S what it’s like,” Maggot says smugly, as I cup my hands to my still icy cheeks, breathlessly savouring the last traces of my first winter. --- Maureen Tai is an award-winning Malaysian writer living in Hong Kong with published creative works in literary and online magazines such as Cha, the Asian American Writers’ Workshop, Kyoto Journal, Voice & Verse Poetry Magazine, Every Day Fiction, Porch Lit Magazine and the Hooghly Review. Primarily writing for children and teens, she has published short stories for children with Oxford University Press and Marshall Cavendish (Asia). Maureen’s work and book reviews can be found at www.maureentai.com. Her time as the Program Director of the Hong Kong International Literary Festival in 2023 is the highlight of her literary career to date.
dlvr.it
June 14, 2025 at 1:47 AM
June’s free post on Substack is about the dresses in my wardrobe. Or is it about their predecessors? Read for free here maureentai.substack.com/p/free-sizing and if you like it, do consider leaving a comment, sharing or subscribing 🥰
Free Sizing
Dress Down Days at school were when my oldest child would ask if I had any clothes she could borrow.
maureentai.substack.com
June 14, 2025 at 12:26 AM
I love giving school talks using my own books but I rely on other creatives like @debbieohi.com who makes amazing gifs! It doesn't take much to credit other writers/illustrators but it means so much, so let's lift each other up! 🏋️‍♀️
May 20, 2025 at 3:55 AM
New in my series, The Invisible, on Substack. This month's story behind the photograph is about a game we used to play on taxi rides home. What is really going on in that little yellow house?

Read at this link: maureentai.substack.com/p/the-bus-ma...

Read, like and/or subscribe (all for free!) 😊
May 13, 2025 at 10:26 PM
Thank you so much for the space for my words @doesithavepockets.bsky.social and @anchalastudio.bsky.social for the reimagining of the cover photo 🥰
May 6, 2025 at 10:05 PM
So grateful and humbled to have my work included in this absolutely gorgeous and riveting issue! Thank you @thehooghlyreview.bsky.social & congrats to all fellow contributors! 🙏🏼❤️
Issue 4 is live! 🥁
thehooghlyreview.com/issues/issue-4/

And it's beautiful and free. 💯

Thank you all for being lovely. Please do spread the word. 🙏
May 2, 2025 at 12:28 PM
As a round 1 judge for graphic novels, congratulations in particular to @samuelteer.bsky.social & @marjulia.bsky.social
for BROWNSTONE, their 2024 Cybils Award for best YA graphic novel! @cybilsawards.bsky.social 🎉
February 22, 2025 at 12:32 AM
As a round 1 judge for graphic novels, congratulations in particular to Sherri L Smith and @christinenorrie.bsky.social for PEARL, their 2024 Cybils Award for best middle grade graphic novel! @cybilsawards.bsky.social 🎉
February 22, 2025 at 12:30 AM
I loved being part of the Cybils Awards' judging panel this year and loved reading so many amazing books for children. The worst thing about it all? Having to pick a few books when ALL of them were winners 📚 Congratulations to 2024 the award winners!b @cybilsawards.bsky.social
And I also love that you might not have ever seen some of these books on other awards lists or book lists, which means that having won the CYBILS award means they might make it into the hands of even more kids! ~ Laura @ Literacious

www.literacious.com/...
February 22, 2025 at 12:22 AM
Touched deeply by this gorgeous poem of Tim Tim Cheng’s in her collection THE TATTOO COLLECTOR published by @ninearchespress.bsky.social
January 21, 2025 at 12:58 AM
My first Substack post for 2025 is available to read for free! The Allure of the Metal Tin, in The Invisible, at the link below open.substack.com/pub/maureent...
The Allure of the Metal Tin
Old habits die hard.
open.substack.com
January 16, 2025 at 3:12 AM
My prose poem, LIFE WE CAN NO LONGER SEE, is republished by @unchartedmag.bsky.social today.
www.unchartedmag.com/stories/life...
Grateful, honoured and humbled (and yes, very happy too!). Originally published in 2019, this remains mum's favourite 😊

@gwoltjer.bsky.social one of mine this time!
January 8, 2025 at 10:57 PM
Starting 2025 with the incredible A TALE FOR THE TIME BEING by Ruth Ozeki - a gripping, philosophical tale of Japanese teen angst, Zen Buddhism and the human condition. @gwoltjer.bsky.social
January 5, 2025 at 5:36 AM
I am particularly pleased that the graphic novel that I nominated for the 2024 @cybilsawards.bsky.social made it through to the shortlist of finalists! 😍 Read my review of Monkey King and the World of Myths at the link below!

www.cybils.com/2025/01/cybi...

Congratulations @maplelam.bsky.social 🎉
#CYBILS2024 Finalists for Graphic Novels#CYBILS2024 Finalists for Graphic Novels | Cybils Awards
www.cybils.com
January 3, 2025 at 4:24 AM
As a Round 1 judge for the 2024 @cybilsawards.bsky.social, it was really tough for our panel to get to our shortlist of 7 finalists for young adult #graphicnovels because the 125 nominated works were all so very good, but here they are! Congratulations!
January 3, 2025 at 4:19 AM
As a Round 1 judge for the 2024 @cybilsawards.bsky.social , it was really tough for our panel to get to our shortlist of 7 finalists for elementary/middle grade #graphicnovels because the 125 nominated works were all so very good, but here they are! Congratulations!
January 3, 2025 at 4:18 AM
Reposted by Maureen Tai
Yes, friends, all finalist lists parades come to an end. And we're closing this year's parade with the #CYBILS2024 Fiction Picture Book finalists.

Remember: You can read the full blurb and see the list here:

www.cybils.com/2025/...
1/8
January 1, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Reposted by Maureen Tai
Introducing ... The 2024 CYBILS Awards Finalists 📯

Congratulations and #HappyNewYear
Our parade of books by category will begin on @bluesky.app shortly.

www.cybils.com/2025/...
January 1, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Reposted by Maureen Tai
Squee! One. More. Week!

This time next week, the #CYBILS2024 finalists will be announced: 01.01.2025 9:am PT |12:pm ET.

After the official announcement (our blog), we celebrate each book and its creators.

Make plans to join us to thank our hard-working judges and spread the word!

December 26, 2024 at 5:00 PM
As my @cybilsawards.bsky.social duties draw to a close, I think back to some of my favourite #youngadult #graphicnovels. Check out my GRAPHIC NOVELS ROUND UP (Young Adult) for 2024: some old, some new, all fabulous 🤩

maureentai.com/2024/12/18/g...
December 18, 2024 at 4:54 AM
Aside from reading & reviewing, I also write little monthly pieces, available for free on Substack. My last free story for 2024 is about The Girl in The Snow Globe, imagined from the point of view of my teenage daughter (who has given her blessing).Happy holidays!

open.substack.com/pub/maureent...
December 14, 2024 at 11:49 PM
As my @cybilsawards.bsky.social judging duties draw to a close, I think back to some of my favourite #middlegrade #graphicnovels.

Check out my GRAPHIC NOVELS ROUND UP (Middle Grade) for 2024: some old, some new, all fabulous 🤩

maureentai.com/2024/12/14/g...

@gwoltjer.bsky.social
December 14, 2024 at 12:27 AM