About Us
Our Story
Impress Creative and Editorial was founded in 2008, and was originally based in Kuala Lumpur before relocating to the Unesco world heritage site of George Town, Penang, Malaysia.
For many years our portfolio concentrated on all facets of editorial work, with a focus on high-quality academic publications on Southeast Asia. In 2020 we expanded our partnership to foster a new approach to the representation of creative talents.
Today we are one of the fastest-growing full-service agencies specialising in creators, dedicated to delivering excellence through partnership.
Our work is guided by five principles
Creative ambition
We put the creative ambitions of our clients at the heart of what we do. We’re here to help people shape their ideas and get to where they want to be.
Personal approach
We believe in a personal approach to client relationships, based on long-term partnership and trust, working with our experienced team to open up potential.
Strategic grounding
We work with clients to develop a creative and editorial strategy that maps out a clear road to critical and commercial success.
Into the new
We’re keen to break with conventions and embrace new thinking with our clients: unconventional ideas, critical intelligence, unexpected connections.
Results
We’re focused on making things happen quickly and delivering real creative and editorial impact – and that means getting the right deals and pushing for the best for the people we represent.
Eryn Tan
Writer and editor
Eryn Tan is a writer and editor. Born in Sacramento, California, her family moved back to Penang, Malaysia, where she grew up. Articulate in various writing styles, her portfolio for Impress Creative and Editorial takes in all aspects of editorial work including copy editing, proofreading and indexing.
Equally creative and methodical, she enjoys meticulously crafting words so that they achieve the greatest impact. Eryn’s recent editorial projects include Fieldwork and the Self (Springer, 2021), Discourses, Agency and Identity in Malaysia: Critical Perspectives (Springer 2021), Chinese Traditional Theatre and Male Dan (Routledge, 2022), Kunqu Masters on Chinese Theatrical Practice (Anthem Press, 2022), The Malay Labourer: By the Window of Capitalism (SIRD, 2022), Liyuanxi: Chinese ‘Pear Garden Theatre’ (Methuen Drama, 2023), (Re)presenting Brunei Darussalam: A Sociology of the Everyday (Springer, 2023), The Complete Investment Guide (Bulan Press, 2023), Ethos (Suburbia Projects), Memories of Unbelonging: Ethnic Chinese Identity in Post-Suharto Indonesia (University of Hawai’i Press, 2023), Transnational Generations in the Arab Gulf and Beyond (Springer, 2023), Gangs and Minorities: Masculinity, Marginalization and Resistance (Bristol University Press, 2023), Anthropology through the Experience of the Physical Body (Springer, 2023), Performing Arts and the Royal Courts of Southeast Asia, Volume 1 (Brill, 2023), The Year’s Work in Showgirls Studies (Indiana University Press, 2024), Journal of the Society for Asian Humanities (2021–2025) Performing Arts and the Royal Courts of Southeast Asia, Volume 2 (Brill, 2024), Brunei Darussalam’s Economic Transition in a Shifting Global Asia (Springer, 2025), Typology: The Genealogy of Buildings and Tehir Emergent Types (Suburbia Projects, 2025), The Halal Industry in Asia (Springer, 2025) and Connected Heritages: The Inner Life of Penang in the Indian Ocean World (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025).
Eryn has published articles in her university’s newspaper, published poems on poetry blogs and edited a self-published book titled Pentelements. She has been a tutor for an intensive summer school programmes for international relations students from Kyoto Sangyo University and Rikkyo University, Japan. She was the producer for the Ibuki Hati concert and two Paper Moon concerts for the George Town Festival 2021. Eryn has a degree in English literature from Seattle Pacific University, USA.
Gareth Richards
Director of Impress Creative & Editorial and principal editor
Gareth Richards is a writer, editor and bookseller. He is the founding director of Impress Creative and Editorial, the owner of Gerakbudaya Bookshop Penang, and co-founded the arts space Hikayat. He previously taught at Manchester University, the University of the Philippines and Universiti Malaya.
Gareth has been the editor for some of the leading scholars of Southeast Asia, specialising in the fields of history, anthropology, sociology, cultural studies, politics and more, seeing more than ninety projects to press. Among his major academic clients are Brill, NUS Press, University of Pennsylvania Press, University of Hawai’i Press, Indiana University Press, Bristol University Press, Springer, Routledge, Wiley-Blackwell, Anthem Press, the Australian Society for Asian Humanities, Methuen Drama, USM Press and Torkel Opsahl, while local publishers include SIRD, Areca Books and Bulan Press.
Gareth is the co-author/editor of Asia–Europe Interregionalism: Critical Perspectives (Routledge, 1999) and Discourses, Agency and Identity in Malaysia: Critical Perspectives (Springer, 2021), the writer of the texts for two books of photography: Portraits of Penang: Little India (Areca, 2011) and Panicrama (Tan Yeow Wooi Studio, 2016) as well as articles on film, dance, theatre, literature, translation and music. A former curator of the George Town Festival, he has been a jury member for the Penang Book Prize (2018–2019) and the Epigram Books Fiction Prize (2021).
Aoife Sacker Ooi
Assistant editor
Born in Nacka, Sweden, Aoife Sacker Ooi has lived in Southeast Asia all her life, mainly in Singapore and Penang, Malaysia. She is an assistant editor with Impress Creative and Editorial, taking in all aspects of editorial work including copy editing, proofreading and indexing.
Aoife’s recent editorial projects include Kunqu Masters on Chinese Theatrical Practice (Anthem Press, 2022) and (Re)presenting Brunei Darussalam: A Sociology of the Everyday (Springer, 2023), with responsibility for proofreading and indexing.
Aoife is passionate about literature and a writer of considerable promise, with her short stories having been awarded prizes. A fan of poetry, she hosted the ‘Open Mic, Open Mind’ spoken-word poetry night in Penang in 2019, placed first twice with original works in poetry slam competitions, and has performed as the opening act at various public events held at Penang Institute. Aoife also has a deep interest in the world of clay sculpting and presented her work at the Dao Shang Shao: Earthly Investigations 2022 Pottery Exhibition.
Aoife is currently studying at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London.
Helena Dodge-Wan
Principal editor and book designer
Helena Dodge-Wan is an editor and layout designer based in Malaysia. With a background in biomedical science and an interest in the arts and humanities, she has edited manuscripts for both social sciences and natural sciences, dealing with aspects such as publishing management, substantive and copy editing, and proofreading.
Helena’s recent editorial projects include (Re)presenting Brunei Darussalam: A Sociology of the Everyday (2023), Fieldwork and the Self (2021), Discourses, Agency and Identity in Malaysia: Critical Perspectives (2021), Anthropogenic Tropical Forests: Human–Nature Interfaces on the Plantation Frontier (2020), International Labour Migration in the Middle East and Asia (2019), all for Springer, Eclectic Cultures for All: The Development of the Peranakan Performing, Visual and Material Arts in Penang (USM Press, 2019), Chinese Traditional Theatre and Male Dan (Routledge, 2022), Memories of Unbelonging: Ethnic Chinese Identity in Post-Suharto Indonesia (University of Hawai’i Press, 2023), Transnational Generations in the Arab Gulf and Beyond (Springer, 2023), Gangs and Minorities: Masculinity, Marginalization and Resistance (Bristol University Press, 2023), and reports for Penang Institute, Penang Green Council and the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS).
Helena is also an experienced book designer, working with authors and publishers to craft covers and interior layouts that capture the essence of their books. Recent design projects include Telltale Food: Writings from the Fay Khoo Award (2020), special issues of the Journal of the Society for Asian Humanities (2020–2025) and two volumes in the Hikayat Annual Literary Translation Lecture series.
Rivaa Ubrani
Assistant editor
Rivaa Ubrani is a writer and editor whose home town is Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. She is a part-time assistant editor with Impress Creative and Editorial, taking in all aspects of academic editorial work including copy editing, proofreading and indexing.
Rivaa’s recent editorial projects include Brunei Darussalam’s Economic Transition in a Shifting Global Asia (Springer, 2024), with key responsibility for proofreading.
Rivaa has considerable experience as a teacher for UNHCR, notably with Afghan refugees displaced to Malaysia; as a journal editor responsible for creative writing, poetry and visual editing for Inklight (Creative Writing), as well as a news columnist for The Stand magazine; and as a social media manager with Amnesty International.
Rivaa is currently studying English and philosophy at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. She is especially passionate about Victorian and Renaissance era English literature.
Elsa Kathryn Waeldin
Assistant editor
Elsa Kathryn Waeldin was born in Kuala Lumpur and lived there for most of her life before moving to Penang in 2020, where she now attends the International School of Penang Uplands. She is currently an intern at Impress Creative and Editorial, able to develop her creativity and communication and organisational skills. As an assistant editor, she works closely with authors and editors. She looks forward to working part-time after her internship.
Elsa has recently worked on Ethos (Suburbia Projects, 2023) and Memories of Unbelonging: Ethnic Chinese Identity in Post-Suharto Indonesia (University of Hawai’i Press, 2023), focusing mainly on proofreading manuscripts and checking page proofs.
Elsa has an interest in illustration and character design, and is hoping to enter an art school in Europe after she graduates from Uplands. She joined an art competition when she was thirteen, and challenged the theme of harmony by creating a piece that was seen as too controversial by the judges to be put on display. Despite this, she won an award for outstanding academic achievement in art and design in her current school. She is an avid reader of fiction and has explored many different graphic novels and manga, always as fascinated by the storyline as she is by the composition of each panel.