Yi-Hwa Bayar Hanna

Can I tell you a secret? I possess the ability to travel to other worlds. I have travelled to lands with sorcerers, witches, and dragons; alien planets with technology beyond my wildest dreams; and to far-flung towns in my own world. Along the way, I’ve made new friends who taught me about love, loyalty, friendship, betrayal, conflict, and everything in between - and I did it all with the flick of a page and the turn of a hand: through the pages of books filled with powerful stories. And you can do it too.

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Each time I delve into a new story, I become Digory Kirke from C.S. Lewis’s The Magician’s Nephew, who discovered a ‘Wood between the Worlds’ filled with pool upon pool, each leading to a separate universe. Except in my case, instead of the trees in a wood, I had the pages of a book; and instead of pools, I had the worlds created through the words within them. When I was a child, whenever things around me felt like too much to handle, it was my favourite way to escape. As I grew older, it became more than just a refuge: it was where I’d travel to when I needed to be inspired, or when I craved new ways of making sense of the world around me, or my ever-changing self一and it still is to this day. I think that’s why I became a writer.

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I am exceptionally proud and grateful to be able to write, edit, and work with words every day through my career as a professional writer who has worked in everything from prestigious global magazine titles to award-winning media agencies. While I enjoy writing about anything that helps me learn something new and that inspires and challenges my intellect, my specialties focus on travel, health and fitness, and lifestyle. As an editor, I'm passionate about finding ways to push boundaries, lend fresh perspectives, and make a difference, all while spreading a positive message. I love finding out what makes people tick, then helping to share their stories through words, images, videos, and more, and finding creative ways in which to do so. 

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To see a selection of my published work as a writer, editor, copywriter, and multimedia journalist, please click on the drop-down menu under "Writing". 

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As an author, I am extremely proud to have been named an award-winner for my debut novel, The Children of Numen: a speculative fiction story with science-fiction elements, set in a futuristic utopia where negative emotions are outlawed. The award involved a place in First Chapter, the first-ever global standard writers' fellowship in the Middle East for aspiring locally-based fiction writers, run by the Emirates Literature Foundation. The year-long programme included one-to-one mentorship from internationally acclaimed authors, and I am very grateful to have had the best-selling novelist and screenwriter Patrick Gale as my mentor. It also included workshops with industry experts including Ian Rankin, Alexander McCall Smith, Nnedi Okorafor, Greg Mosse, and Annabel Kantaria.

 

I am also currently working on my second novel, The Casting Season: a fantasy story inspired by East Asian mythology, about love, youth, and what it really means to live forever. I am honoured and proud that this novel won first place in the 2023 edition of the Emirates Literature Festival Writing Prize. 

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When I began writing my first novel, I promised myself that I would do my very best to write books that would be worthy of enrapturing my younger self, and anyone else who is gracious enough to read them - and that promise still stands true today. My debut novel, The Children of Numen, and my work-in-progress, The Casting Season, are both as-yet unpublished, and I am currently seeking representation. 

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If you'd like to get in touch, you can drop me a message by using the contact details below!