The Asian century is in full swing, generating unprecedented economic and social power. In coming decades this will profoundly change the world, and the lives of all those living in the world’s most populous region. Griffith Review 49: New Asia Now showcases outstanding young writers from the countries at the centre of Asia’s ongoing transformation. They write about the people and places they know with passion, flair and insight.

All born after 1970, our contributors are cultural agenda setters at home who explore issues of identity and belonging in the new world that is unfolding.

In a country where speaking out can land you in jail, MIGUEL SYJUCO asks, what can we do? What can a writer do?

In a sharply satirical short story by MAGGIE TIOJAKIN, two men attend an election rally for the Candidate in Indonesia.

MURONG XUECUN explores how the internet is changing China and Chinese people – awakening individualism, developing an awareness of individual and human rights, facilitating freedom to think and criticise – despite the government’s best efforts to suppress it. Throughout human history, clothing has been associated with power.

Indian writer ANNIE ZAIDI explores the idea of shame which is attached to nudity, and the power that it wields: as a symbol of domination, and of protest.

Other contributors include Dewi Anggraeni, Romy Ash, Jarni Blakkarly, Jessie Cole, André Dao, Siddhartha Deb, Glenn L Diaz, Romi Grossberg, Eliza Hanadyani, Siobhan Harvey, Anjum Hasan, Michelle Law, Jenn Chan Lyman, Majid Maqbool, Sally McLaren, Cameron Muir, Omar Musa, Mohit Parikh, Ploy Pirapokin, Prodita Sabarini, Keane Shum, Ellen van Neervan, Voranai Vanijaka. With poetry by JANG Jin-sung, Manan Karki and Ko Ko Thett and a powerful photo-essay by Tammy Law.

New Asia Now, co-edited by Julianne Schultz and Jane Camens, takes a journey through the region’s diversity, featuring a new generation of literary stars who will shape the way we understand the complexities of culture, politics and modernisation.