ISSUE FOUR SUBMISSIONS ARE NOW OPEN TO YOUTH ACROSS ASIA AGED 13-21.

What are you waiting for? 

The early-morning bus. An old friend. A change. A version of yourself you have yet to meet. Sometimes anticipation can mean having the surety that something is coming. 

But sometimes anticipation can mean the choice to continue looking forward even when there is no guarantee to what lies ahead. 

For this issue, we invite you to look at “Anticipation” through the lens of hope. We are interested in the moments that hope exists before its fulfillment; the waiting, the longing, and the believing. What does it mean to hold onto the possibility of something better? What does hope look like, and what paradoxes does it capture? 

Fyodor Dostoevsky writes, “And there's a whole life in that, in knowing that the sun is there.” This quote reminds us that even through the darkest and longest night, our belief in the sun’s presence is enough to keep us waiting for the morning. So, write about the future you are reaching toward, the thing you cannot see but stubbornly choose to believe in, or why you choose to keep moving forward. Explore anticipation as possibility, longing, ache, patience or uncertainty.