Xiaole Zhan

Xiaole Zhan (they/them) is a Chinese-New Zealand writer and composer based in Naarm. They are the recipient of the 2024 Kat Muscat Fellowship. They were also the winner of the 2023 Kill Your Darlings Non-Fiction Prize for their autobiographical essay Think An Empty Room, Moonly With Phoneglow exploring experiences of racism growing up in a mixed Pākehā-Chinese family, as well as the winner of the 2023 Charles Brasch Young Writers Essay Competition for their essay Muscle Memory exploring music, depression, queerness, and gender discrimination over time. Their work can be found in Island, The Suburban Review, Landfall, Cordite, Going Down Swinging, Kill Your Darlings, Starling, and Sweet Mammalian. Their name in Chinese is 小乐and means ‘Little Happy’ but can also be read as ‘Little Music’.