Cher Tan is an essayist, critic and editor living and working on unceded Wurundjeri land (so-called “Melbourne”). She previously lived in Kaurna Yerta/Adelaide and Singapore, where she was born and raised.

Her essays, criticism and other written work have been published widely, including in Sydney Review of Books, Hyperallergic, Kill Your Darlings, Cordite, Gusher magazine, Catapult, The Guardian, Art Guide Australia and The Age, among many others.

She is an editor at LIMINAL magazine, as well as a freelance editor for book & thesis projects. In 2023 she was a book columnist at the ABC. From 2020–2025 she was reviews editor at Meanjin Quarterly.

Her critically-acclaimed debut essay collection, Peripathetic: Notes on (Un)belonging, is out with NewSouth Publishing. The book was Highly Commended in the Nonfiction category at the 2025 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards and longlisted for the 2025 Stella Prize.

Cher’s work and practice thinks through technology, late capitalism, borders & boundaries, power & complicity, and the construction of identity, self, & culture in a hyperreal world. 

Read an interview with Cher in LIMINAL here, with The Wheeler Centre here and with Writers Victoria here. Other press & reviews can be found here.

She also plays music in DIY bands/projects:
Grimalkin (2014–2018) | Spiteward (2017–2020)
ESP Mayhem (2019–) | Public Stimming (2022–) |
Temporary Autonomous Zone (2025–)

To contact Cher, click here.