Gathering

Nina Mingya Powles (she/her, b. 1993, Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand) is a writer and poet of mixed white and Malaysian Chinese heritage. Currently based in London, she is the author of a food memoir, Tiny Moons: A Year of Eating in Shanghai (2020) and a collection of essays, Small Bodies of Water, the winner of the inaugural Nan Shepherd Prize, published by Canongate in 2021. Her debut poetry collection Magnolia (2020) was published in the US, UK and New Zealand and was a finalist for the Ondaatje Prize, the New Zealand Book Awards, and the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. She has also published many poetry zines and pamphlets, most recently Slipstitch (Guillemot Press, 2024), about quilts and hand-stitching. Nina has taught zine-making and writing workshops for many schools, universities and organisations including the Museum of the Home, Cambridge University, Good Chance Theatre and Verve Poetry Festival.