The Creative Curry Podcast Dhinesha Karthigesu and Poet X

In this episode, the conversation with Yann Chwen is all about asking and exploring questions about our responsibilities as artists, as Malaysians and as humans. They share unique perspective on their practices and share a creation technique they learned that we are just gonna call 741. Towards the end of the episode, they read and we discuss two of their pieces of writing titled “Sometimes” and “Why Move Back?”.

Yann Chwen is a dancer, designer and doer-of-many-things. They are deeply interested in spaces where art and activism live together. Born and raised on Penang Island, Yann Chwen recently moved to KL and can't get enough of chilli pan me. As a queer Malaysian Chinese-Thai settler, they descend from Teochew women who crossed the sea and built families; custodians, teachers, factory workers, butchers and shopkeepers; and their family that now acquires wealth through construction and development. Through dance, art, digital design, facilitation and community-based justice work, Yann Chwen is learning their place in the ecosystem of our world. Their website is www.yannchwen.com

Photo Credit: Katy Lee

In this episode, the conversation with Sean is all about poetry and queerness. He talks about growing up and we get to dive into Button Poetry, slam culture and how poetry has changed in the US. Towards the end of the episode, Sean reads his poem “Whispers for Ameinias” and we discuss queer history and mythology.



Sean Patrick Mulroy is a writer, actor, visual artist, and musician from the American South, who now he lives all over the world. A nationally recognised writer in the US, Sean is a performer, an award winning professor and earned his MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Sean is a 2013 Lambda Literary Fellow, a 2017-2018 Writer-in-Residence at The Kerouac Project in Orlando Florida, and a 2019 Writer in Residence at Villa Sarkia in Sysma, Finland. His website is http://www.thevanishingman.com

In this episode, the conversation is slightly different from the usual. The podcast just completed its first season and so its a time of looking back and celebrating a little. The hosting reigns is handed over to our last episode’s guest Malaysian illustrator, poet and theatre maker Veshalini Naidu. And we put our executive producer and editor Safwan Siddiq and the podcast creator and host, Dhinesha Karthigesu in the guest seats instead. The conversation is all about how we got into podcasting and explaining all our podcast decisions from naming to curation. Towards the end of the episode, we have a very serious discussion on banana leaf meals and our go to curry spots.

In this episode, the conversation with Vesha is all about the spiritual approach she has towards her projects and also how her family have shaped her artistry. She also shares her unique perspective on character and performance for creation, stepping in and stepping out. Towards the end of the episode, Vesha reads her Facebook post titled “Olive Backed Sun Birds” and we get to talk all about it.



Veshalini Naidu is a Malaysian illustrator, poet, theatremaker, current Resident Designer with Theatresauce and Creative Designer with KAIJU Creatives. “Skin & Flowers” is her on-going watercolour series that explores gender and sexuality in Malaysia. Notable performances include Still Taming & S'kolah (2016), LIFE SDN BHD: People (2017), Malaysia Throws Herself A Birthday Party (2017), 4.48 PSYCHOSIS (2017), The Bee (2018), To Which My Brother Laughed; (2019) and has represented Malaysia at the Asian Youth Theatre Festival (2017) in Singapore and at The St.Petersburg Masterskaya Theatre (2017) in Russia. She has written for the critically acclaimed IndicineLive! V (2018), IndicineLive! VI (2019). Directing credits include Skin & Flowers: In Tender at the Yayasan Sime Darby Arts Festival 2018 and ROJA: Weaving A Womxn with Dhinesha Karthigesu (2019). She is an INXO Art Fund 2019 recipient for Malam Sayu; a multidisciplinary performance event with Coebar Abel, Jad Hidhir and Anjali Venugopal. Her website is https://veshalininaidu.wixsite.com/veshanaiduart 

In this episode, the conversation with Katrina is all about activism, creativity and family and how for her, they all intersect with one another. She also shares unique perspective on burnout and the power of writing to reimagine and heal. Towards the end of the episode, Katrina reads her poem “Some of Who I Am” and we discuss the very real issues for what that poem stands for. 



Katrina Jorene Maliamauv is a Malaysian human rights activist, educator, and writer who has worked for over a decade to uphold and defend the rights and dignity of all persons, especially migrants, refugees and persons in various forms of slavery. She is unwavering in the pursuit of justice, is a feminist, and a believer in the power of hope, radical love, and collective action.  She writes for healing, she writes for joy, she writes to reimagine and bring into being a more inclusive, just and equal world for all.

In this episode, the conversation with Sumitra Selvaraj is all about Instagram and the stories and sarees she shares using the social media platform. Throughout the interview, Sumitra also talks about her unique documentation and writing process. Towards the end of the episode, she reads a snippet of her story “Appa’s Mutton Curry” which was the runner up for the 2016 D.K. Dutt Memorial Prize for Literary Excellence and was subsequently published in Bitter Root, Sweet Fruit. 



Sumitra Selvaraj is a Malaysian writer and broadcaster who produces her best work under the influence of chicken varuval. When not obsessively reading food labels in grocery stores, she is likely to be in her kitchen, planning meals and avoiding her unfinished novel. Sumitra began writing creative fiction in 2016; her first short story, The Starlight Studio, was published by a South East Asian online literary journal, while ‘Appa’s Mutton Curry’ was awarded runners-up at the 2016 DK Dutt Memorial Prize for Literary Excellence. In 2018 she won the Short Story Prize at the Asian Women Writers Festival in Singapore.