Editor Interview: Apus

Borderless herstories

We admire "te" for the intellectual depth and visual care it brings to bilingual publishing. Each issue begins with a focused theme, but approaches it through multiple disciplines—literature, contemporary art, anthropology, sociology, and visual research. We are especially drawn to the way it treats a magazine not simply as a collection of individual works, but as a carefully constructed object of inquiry.
We also admire "Slant’d" for the community it has built around AAPI storytelling. Its publications bring together personal essays, fiction, poetry, art, and photography from creators across different generations, geographies, and experiences. What feels especially meaningful to us is that its work extends beyond representation alone: it creates an accessible and welcoming space in which emerging writers and artists can discover, develop, and share their voices.

We champion Asian-descent/Asian-based female voices so R. F. Kuang and Kim Ae-ran are definitely among our favorite writers; there is also the OG Eileen Chang. Among genre fares, one of our unexpected favorites is science fiction and we appreciate the works of Octavia Butler and Greg Egan. We also invite works that speak to social problems such as those of Annie Ernaux. We publish primarily short form fiction and our favorite short story writers include Ernest Hemingway, Katherine Mansfield, and Claire Keegan. Aside from fiction, we also publish writings in other formats and we enjoy Marina Tsvetaeva's lyrical poetry.

What makes us stand out is that we are a bilingual publication (Chinese and English) and we have an emphasis on diasporic Chinese authors and artists, even though we solicit submissions from all contributors.

Consider introducing greater complexity and nuance into the people, relationships, or ideas in your work.

We are drawn to work that surprises us—not necessarily through shock or novelty for its own sake, but through a fresh perception, an unexpected connection, or an original way of rendering experience. While we welcome submissions that explore diasporic experiences, such themes are not a prerequisite.

We review up to two submissions per author for each annual volume. While we’d love to read more of your work, our editing team has limited bandwidth, so any extra submissions won't be reviewed or receive a response.

Cover letters are not required, but we do take a look if the author provides one. If there is a very compelling narrative coming from the contributor's work and their background, we might be more interested in publishing their work. Previous publication credits matter very little to us. We consider ourselves a newcomer, too, and we love to promote upcoming writers/artists and build a working relationship with them.

We try to read as much as possible, but sometimes we receive a bulk load of submissions and we cannot guarantee that we will always read to the last line. Our editors take turns going through new submissions; we give a rough read to determine submissions that might be interesting for us. Some pieces do not meet our basic requirements (word limit, scope, etc.) and are eliminated in the first round.

For a piece to be accepted for publication, we have a few extra rounds of evaluation. For each submission that remains on our list, at least half of all editors need to read and score them. We then decide whether they will proceed to the next round during our weekly meetings. For our last issue, we had to meet several times to decide on which pieces would be published.

A day in the life of an editor rarely begins at the same hour. Our editors are based across Asia, Europe, and North America; it often feels as though we are doing the same work in parallel, from different corners of the world. Our weekly meetings are perhaps the closest we come to sharing the same room—one person's morning coffee meets another's late-night thoughts, and conversations unfold across time zones.
Every submission that passes our initial screening is read and independently scored by each editor. The highest-rated pieces are brought to our weekly editorial meetings, where we discuss them before making a final decision. Much of our work happens beyond the page. Alongside editing, we liaise with contributors, help organise launch parties, take part in book fairs, and look for new ways to expand what the magazine can be—from recording podcasts and hosting online writing workshops to exploring new ways of connecting with our community.

We respect the hard work our contributors put to their submissions and try to not alter them too much for publication. For each piece, there is an editor-in-charge assigned for general revisions and more specific line editing. During the editorial process, we communicate with the authors through email. The edited piece will then be checked by the editor-in-chief and then we will have a final version agreed upon by the author and the editors.
After the typesetting process begins, the editors-in-charge exchange their assigned pieces with each other for proofreading. The intent is that each piece will be read by a fresh eye so that typos and misspellings will be more easily spotted. Then we send the finalized version to confirm with the author whether they would like to make any last-minute change or have style-wise suggestions.

We haven't nominated any work for any national or international awards yet, since we are still in the beginning stage. However, we are open to this option in the future, and we will try our best to keep track of relevant awards and nominate suitable candidates for them.

We're a lean, independent project fueled by passion and driven entirely by an all-female team of volunteers. Our operations are funded through a hybrid model: foundational support from our founder, the generosity of our community of donors, and revenue generated from our magazine sales. While we're in a phase of strategic growth and operating at a slight deficit, these resources allow us to maintain our editorial independence. Our goal remains to foster a sustainable ecosystem where our contributors and readers can thrive together.

We actively participate in book fairs such as the Olympia Zine Fest and the Bay Area Book Festival. Our magazine is available in bookstores around the world. We also host annual launch events for each new issue in multiple cities, providing opportunities to meet our readers, authors and collaborators in person.