Dr Anitha Devi Pillai is an author, poet, applied linguist, and teacher-educator based in Singapore. She is Assistant Dean at the NIE, Nanyang Technological University. She is the author and editor of eleven books. Her translation, Sembawang, was a finalist for the NUS Singapore History Prize and for Best Literary Work at the Singapore Book Awards and was selected as a recommended read by the President of Singapore. Her short story “Lost in Translation” was longlisted for the 2025 Commonwealth Short Story Prize. Her latest book, What the Tongue Remembers, is a collection of stories published by Penguin Random House SEA. Her creative and scholarly work explores memory, migration, language and belonging, particularly within minority communities.