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VARSHA UPRAITY is a Nepali writer and researcher, currently based in Kathmandu. She writes poems and narrative fiction and has academic interests in the relationship between gender and resilience in the aftermath of traumatic phenomenon. She is currently working on two independent projects; a collection of short stories revolving around the experiences of women in contemporary Kathmandu, and a novel that tells the story of a man who disappears and the impact of this event on seven people who know him.

STEVEN SCHWANKERT’s book project is to solve the mystery of one of China’s forgotten maritime disasters; one that claimed more lives than the Titanic and that is unexplained to this day, more than 70 years later. It’s the story of one of the world’s great shipwrecks, the victims of which could have been observed boarding and setting off from where M on the Bund and M Glam now stand.

Juliet is a classical singer and Chinese music specialist. She will use her time in Shanghai to complete the manuscript of the upcoming release, SINGING IN MANDARIN, the next edition in the ‘Singing in’ Vocal Diction Series for the American publisher Rowman and Littlefield. The M Literary Residency will allow Juliet close collaboration with her co-writer Katherine Chu, who is based in Suzhou, and give her access to the resources unique to the classical vocal music scene in Shanghai and China.

Raised in small towns in the west, Maxim Loskutoff is the critically acclaimed author of RUTHIE FEAR and COME WEST AND SEE, an NPR and Amazon Best Book of 2018, a New York Times Editor’s Pick, and winner of the High Plains Book Award. His stories and essays have appeared in numerous periodicals, including the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Ploughshares, and GQ. He lives in the Rocky Mountains of western Montana.

“I finished and sold my first book, Come West and See, during my time in India as an M Literary Resident. The culture and place allowed me to see my home in Montana in an entirely new way, and evenings spent discussing writing with authors from all over the world brought the book into focus for the first time. I carry the experiences I had there, and the brilliant writers and writing I was exposed to, with me in all of my work.”

Glenn Diaz’s first book The Quiet Ones (Ateneo Press) won the Palanca Grand Prize and the Philippine National Book Award. His second novel “Yñiga” was shortlisted for the 2020 Novel Prize. Born and raised in Manila, he is currently pursuing doctoral studies at the University of Adelaide in South Australia.

“The M Literary Residency was my first residency. Being uprooted from my life in Manila to spend ten weeks in Bangalore in constant conversation with other writers not only allowed me to fortify and fine-tune my ideas for my work-in-progress, it also deepened my understanding of what it means to pursue a life of writing. I carry these conversations and ideas with me today, seven years hence.”

Jeremy Tiang is the author of a short story collection, It Never Rains on National Day, and a novel, State of Emergency, which won the Singapore Literature Prize in 2018. His translations from Chinese include novels by Yeng Pway Ngon, Yan Ge, Chan Ho-Kei, Zhang Yueran, Su Wei-Chen, Yan Geling and Li Er. He also writes and translates plays, including work by Chen Si’an, Wei Yu-Chia and Zhan Jie. He lives in Flushing, Queens.

“Being able to spend a substantial period of time in Shanghai and getting to know the city allowed me to deepen the sense of place in my novel-in-progress. The M Residency provided enough support that I hit the ground running, while also giving me the space and time I needed to write and explore.”