Ricepaper Magazine invites submissions for Beyond the Hyphen, a special issue presented in collaboration with TAIWANfest Vancouver. This is a special collaborative literary project with TAIWANfest 2026 that explores migration, language, cultural memory, identity, and belonging across Taiwanese Canadian and broader Taiwanese diasporic communities.
This collaboration seeks not only to showcase established literary voices but also to actively cultivate the next generation of Taiwanese Canadian writers by creating a welcoming entry point into literary publishing. Beyond the Hyphen encourages emerging writers — particularly those who have never previously published in English-language literary spaces — to share their stories.
Writers are encouraged to interpret the theme broadly. Possible questions include:
- What does it mean to live beyond a hyphenated identity?
- How do migration and colonial histories shape families and communities?
- What languages have we inherited, lost, reclaimed, or refused?
- When do cultural symbols become sources of pride, and when do they become limiting?
- How do queer and gender-diverse Asian communities challenge silence, tradition, and taboo?
- How do we honour the past while imagining more expansive futures?
This issue welcomes work from Taiwanese-heritage and Taiwanese diasporic perspectives. We are especially interested in writing that complicates easy definitions of identity and belonging.
We are seeking:
- Fiction
- Poetry
- Creative nonfiction
- Essays
Submission Guidelines:
- Submission form: PDF Name_Theme_Genre or DOCX Name_Theme_Genre
- Please complete the above submission form and send it with your submission to submission@ricepapermagazine.ca
- Deadline for submissions is October 31, 2026.
- Previously unpublished work
- Simultaneous submissions are welcome, but please let us know if your work is accepted elsewhere.
- Submitted pieces must be 3000 words or fewer.
- For poetry submissions, please limit to only 3 poems.
Special Guest Editors:
Becky Tu is a Vancouver-based writer, multimedia storyteller, and community advocate. Specializing in sociology and creative writing, she serves as an Associate Editor for Pancouver and Outreach Manager for the Asian-Canadian Special Events Association (ACSEA). Becky’s work highlights the stories of underrepresented artists, educators, and cultural advocates
Iris Chen is a Vancouver-based literary curator and passionate advocate for Taiwanese literature. As curator of the Taiwan Bookstore at TAIWANfest, she brings depth, enthusiasm, and an expansive knowledge of Taiwan’s literary traditions to her work. In one year alone, she read approximately 355 books as part of a systematic exploration of Taiwanese literature from 1895 to the present. She also shares her reflections on books, culture, and literary connections through her blog, Intriguing Connections.
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