Zhui Ning Chang 曾睿宁 (she/they) is a Malaysian multidisciplinary storyteller based in London, UK. She wears many hats, including editor, writer, translator, sensitivity reader, researcher, educator, librettist, and theatre maker.
Her work often explores decoloniality, migration and diaspora, oceanic exchanges, and speculative futures.
Editing and Writing:
As an editor, Zhui Ning specialises in speculative fiction (fantasy, science fiction, horror), historical fiction, creative nonfiction, and Chinese-English translations. See her portfolio for titles she has worked on.
Zhui Ning is the Editor-in-Chief at IGNYTE-winning, Hugo-nominated khōréō magazine, where she acquires and edits cutting-edge speculative fiction by immigrant and diaspora writers. Zhui Ning also co-edited the anthologies Best of Malaysian Short Fiction in English 2010-2020 and Latin American Plays in Translation, and was an assistant editor on SFWA’s Publishing Taught Me essay series with Nisi Shawl. Additionally, Zhui Ning works extensively as a sensitivity reader and cultural consultant, supporting authors, screenwriters, game designers, and publishers to design and review texts.
Zhui Ning’s writing for stage includes the original musicals Asian Pirate Musical and Seashore Yuanfen. Her translations, essays and reviews have been published by PEN Malaysia, Strange Horizons, Library Journal, The BSFA Review, and more.
Theatre and Performance:
Zhui Ning is an award-winning theatre director, librettist, and producer. She creates across form and genre, with experience in new plays, music theatre, devising, and audio drama.
Zhui Ning was Connections Producer at Global Voices Theatre between 2018 to 2024, where she produced multiple play reading events in collaboration with institutions such as the Roundhouse, British Library, Rich Mix, as well as two workshop series, a podcast, and three play anthologies. She has read for the Royal Court, Theatre503, and Woven Voices, and taught workshops on world theatre, new playwriting, and the actor as translator at institutions including Wimbledon College of Arts, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and Han Chiang University College of Communication.
Zhui Ning trained on Tamasha Theatre’s Director Programme with Sita Thomas. She holds an MA Text and Performance from Birkbeck and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.
Education and Research:
Zhui Ning was the researcher-translator on Emmy-nominated VR game The Pirate Queen, starring Lucy Liu.
Currently, Zhui Ning is pursuing a PhD in decolonial Southeast Asian speculative fiction at Birkbeck, University of London, supervised by Professor Caroline Edwards and Dr Michael Tsang, with support from AHRC CHASE. Her research articles have been published by Science Fiction Studies and the Journal of Postcolonial Writing.
If you want to support Zhui Ning’s work, you can buy her a coffee here.
ZHUI NING CHANG 