An ex-journalist on a sweltering night in Kuala Lumpur, raging in a city on the edge of meltdown; a young woman in present-day Iowa, reflecting on her two mothers in a Singapore of long ago; in Queensland’s Border Ranges, a boy prone to getting lost having six tiny bells pinned to his chest.

All of these people are in the midst of change - divided by time and space, but living in a world of shrinking distances and disappearing differences.

It’s what happens when you take award-winning writers from Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines, Myanmar, Malaysia, and Hong Kong, put them in a room together, and see what they create. This book is the result of the Writers Immersion and Cultural Exchange program: a unique experiment dedicated to collaboration, immersion, and cultural exchange. It’s a document emerging from two years of residencies, workshops, and ongoing dialogues - a map of art and adventure, ideas and heart.

Featuring fiction, nonfiction, and essays from Cate Kennedy, Melissa Lucashenko, Maxine Beneba Clarke, Omar Musa, and many more, The Near and the Far is a book that bridges the gaps between Asia, Australia, and the world. Every day is a border crossing, and every story is a threshold. This collection invites readers to grab their passports and step beyond.