Topaz Winters (born September 25, 1999) is the pen name of Singaporean writer Priyanka Balasubramanian Aiyer.

Biography

Winters was born in the United States and has lived in Singapore since she was seven years old. She attends

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

, where she has studied poetry and fiction under Danez Smith,

Monica Youn Monica Youngna Youn is an American poet and lawyer. Life Youn was raised in Houston, Texas. She graduated from St. Agnes Academy (Texas), Princeton University, Yale Law School with a J.D., and Oxford University with a M. Phil, where she was a Rh ...

, Rowan Ricardo Phillips, and Joyce Carol Oates. She writes on mental illnesses such as depression,

anxiety Anxiety is an emotion which is characterized by an unpleasant state of inner turmoil and includes feelings of dread over anticipated events. Anxiety is different than fear in that the former is defined as the anticipation of a future threat wh ...

, obsessive-compulsive disorder and

hyperacusis Hyperacusis is the increased sensitivity to sound and a low tolerance for environmental noise. Definitions of hyperacusis can vary significantly; it can refer to normal noises being perceived as: loud, annoying, painful, fear-inducing, or a combina ...

, as well as her experiences of being a queer and

disabled Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, ...

woman of color The term "person of color" ( : people of color or persons of color; abbreviated POC) is primarily used to describe any person who is not considered "white". In its current meaning, the term originated in, and is primarily associated with, the U ...

and an immigrant. 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" (2017) and "Portrait of My Body as a Crime I'm Still Committing" (2019). Her third poetry collection "So, Stranger" was released with

Button Poetry Button Poetry is a Minneapolis-based poetry company and independent publisher of performance poetry. They are known for their viral videos of slam poetry performances, including a performance of "OCD" by Neil Hilborn that the Knight Foundation c ...

in 2022. She is the youngest author to be published by

Math Paper Press BooksActually is an independent bookstore operating online. It was formerly located in Singapore's Tiong Bahru district till 2020. History and description BooksActually was established by Kenny Leck and Karen Wai in 2005 on the second floor ...

, the youngest Singaporean nominee for the Pushcart Prize, and the youngest visiting author at several MFA programs across the United States. She is the editor-in-chief at the

publishing house Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

and literary journal Half Mystic. She also wrote and appeared in the 2017

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

''SUPERNOVA'' (directed by Ishan Modi). With Crispin Rodrigues, she is the co-curator of the 2020

Singapore Writers Festival The Singapore Writers Festival is a literary event organised by the National Arts Council. Inaugurated in 1986, the festival serves a dual function of promoting new and emerging Singaporean and Asian writing to an international audience, as well ...

digital installation ''Letters From Home to Home.'' Her peer-reviewed

scholarly paper Academic publishing is the subfield of publishing which distributes academic research and scholarship. Most academic work is published in academic journal articles, books or theses. The part of academic written output that is not formally pub ...

"Queering Poetics: The Impact of Poetry on LGBT+ Identity in Singaporean Adolescents" was published in the ''

Journal of Homosexuality The ''Journal of Homosexuality'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering research into sexual practices and gender roles in their cultural, historical, interpersonal, and modern social contexts. History The founding editor-in-chief was C ...

'' when she was 19 years old. She is the youngest author to be published in this journal.

References

21st-century Singaporean writers 1999 births Living people 21st-century Singaporean women writers Queer writers {{Singapore-writer-stub