Topaz Winters Explained

Topaz Winters
Birth Date: September 25, 1999
Birth Place:United States
Nationality:Singaporean
Occupation:Writer
Alma Mater:Princeton University
Period:2013–present
Genre:Poetry, essays

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

Early life and education

Winters was born in the United States and grew up in Singapore from when she was seven years old. 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), 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, 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. 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. She owns a black cat named Volta.[49]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: hermesauto. 2019-04-29. The 'rebel girls' of Singapore poetry: Young, outspoken and pushing boundaries. 2020-08-06. The Straits Times. en.
  2. Web site: Topaz Winters: On Music, Tech And Writing . 2020-08-06 . Lifestyle Guide . en.
  3. Web site: Topaz Winters, student and artist, makes meaning out of suffering. 2021-02-17. The Princetonian.
  4. Web site: 'Worthy of taking up space': Jennifer Lee '23 founds nonprofit to support Asian Americans with disabilities . 2022-02-16 . The Princetonian.
  5. Web site: poems for the sound of the sky before thunder . 2020-08-06 . BooksActually . en.
  6. Web site: So, Stranger (Button Poetry) . 2022-05-22 . Button Poetry . en-US.
  7. Web site: Portrait of my Body as a Crime I'm Still Committing . 2023-11-19 . Button Poetry . en-US.
  8. Web site: Parker . Annamarie . Visiting poet Topaz Winters reflects on her writing journey . 2022-05-22 . The North Wind.
  9. Web site: About . 2023-08-10 . Kopi Break . en-US.
  10. Web site: TAN . MEGAN . 2018-08-11 . A new chapter for SingLit . 2020-08-06 . The Business Times . en.
  11. Web site: Singapore Writers Festival - Letters from Home to Home . 2021-02-17 . Singapore Writers Festival.
  12. Web site: lincolnvillagesun . 2022-08-18 . Poet Topaz Winters curates a soulful night of music and verse at 'So, Stranger' launch . 2023-06-30 . The Village Sun . en-US.
  13. Web site: 2022-08-17 . Arts Briefs . 2023-06-30 . The Provincetown Independent . en-US.
  14. Web site: Nast . Condé . 2024-04-09 . Emerging Talent and Legendary Artists Celebrated The YoungArts Gala at The Metropolitan Museum of Art . 2024-04-15 . Vogue . en-US.
  15. Aiyer . Priyanka . 2020-01-28 . Queering Poetics: The Impact of Poetry on LGBT+ Identity in Singaporean Adolescents . Journal of Homosexuality . 67 . 2 . 206–222 . 10.1080/00918369.2018.1536415 . 0091-8369 . 30407889 . 53236989.
  16. Web site: 2024-03-12 . Idol . 2024-04-15 . The Drift . en-US.
  17. Web site: Issue 45 . 2024-04-15 . Passages North . en-US.
  18. Web site: 2023-04-12 . Topaz Winters . 2023-11-19 . The Boiler . en.
  19. Web site: Poets . Academy of American . 2022 Academy of American Poets Prize . 2023-11-19 . Poets.org . en.
  20. Web site: Home Ghazal (Alvin Says, It Is What We Love That Gives Us Our Names) by Topaz Winters . 2023-11-19 . www.hobartpulp.com . en.
  21. Web site: Winters . Topaz . Terrible Things Are Happening in New Jersey! . 2023-11-19 . ex-puritan.ca . en.
  22. Web site: Topaz Winters . 2023-11-19 . diode poetry journal . en-US.
  23. Web site: Winters . Topaz . & When I Say the Word Hunger You Know I’m Speaking of Resurrection Tinderbox Poetry Journal . 2023-11-19 . en-US.
  24. Web site: Issue 8: Topaz Winters . 2023-11-19 . Green Linden Press . en-US.
  25. Web site: 2019-08-16 . Week 33: Topaz Winters . 2023-11-19 . DIALOGIST . en-US.
  26. Web site: 2019-08-02 . Topaz Winters . 2023-11-19 . Ghost City Press . en-US.
  27. Web site: by Topaz Winters . 2023-11-19 . tenderness lit . en-US.
  28. Web site: Topaz Winters Birdfeast 14 . 2023-11-19 . www.birdfeastmagazine.com.
  29. Web site: occulum . 2018-10-31 . Origin Story by Topaz Winters . 2023-11-19 . Occulum . en.
  30. Web site: 2018-09-16 . Winters . 2023-11-19 . Sundog . en-US.
  31. Web site: I Start Crying During the Best Part of the Film – Rust & Moth . 2023-11-19 . rustandmoth.com . en.
  32. Web site: You Make Yourself Another by Lucy Hannah Ryan . 2023-11-21 . Half Mystic . en-US.
  33. Web site: Half Mystic Journal Issue X: Elegy . 2023-11-21 . Half Mystic . en-US.
  34. Web site: Waiting for Frank Ocean in Cairo by Hazem Fahmy . 2023-11-21 . Half Mystic . en-US.
  35. Web site: Half Mystic Journal Issue IX: Synaesthesia . 2023-11-21 . Half Mystic . en-US.
  36. Web site: Half Mystic Journal Issue VIII: Sforzando . 2023-11-21 . Half Mystic . en-US.
  37. Web site: Say Mother Say Hand by Marie Conlan . 2023-11-21 . Half Mystic . en-US.
  38. Web site: The Family That Carried Their House on Their Backs by Sammie Downing . 2023-11-21 . Half Mystic . en-US.
  39. Web site: Hag by Tamara Jobe . 2023-11-21 . Half Mystic . en-US.
  40. Web site: Half Mystic Journal Issue VII: Aubade . 2023-11-21 . Half Mystic . en-US.
  41. Web site: Half Mystic Journal Issue VI: Interlude . 2023-11-21 . Half Mystic . en-US.
  42. Web site: Crowd Surfing With God: 5 Year Anniversary Special Edition by Adrienne Novy [PREORDER] ]. 2023-11-21 . Half Mystic . en-US.
  43. Web site: Half Mystic Journal Issue V: Cadenza . 2023-11-21 . Half Mystic . en-US.
  44. Web site: Knock by Melissa Atkinson Mercer . 2023-11-21 . Half Mystic . en-US.
  45. Web site: Half Mystic Journal Issue IV: Grazioso . 2023-11-21 . Half Mystic . en-US.
  46. Web site: Half Mystic Journal Issue III: Nocturne . 2023-11-21 . Half Mystic . en-US.
  47. Web site: Half Mystic Journal Issue II: Saudade . 2023-11-21 . Half Mystic . en-US.
  48. Web site: Half Mystic Journal Issue I: Allegro . 2023-11-21 . Half Mystic . en-US.
  49. Web site: Instagram . 2024-04-15 . www.instagram.com.

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