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 Poetry Review, Catapult, The Guardian, Art Guide Australia and The Age, among many others.

Currently she is the managing editor at Overland. She has also been a co-editor at Debris (2023–2026) and LIMINAL (2019–2025) magazines, as well as reviews editor at Meanjin Quarterly (2020–2025). In 2023 she was a book columnist at the ABC.

Her critically-acclaimed debut essay collection, Peripathetic: Notes on (Un)belonging, was published by NewSouth Publishing in May 2024. 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 internet sociology, 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–) | Cadmium (2026–)

To contact Cher, click here.