Movable Worlds | Emily Ding | Substack

Welcome to Movable Worlds

Letters about trying to make sense of a bewildered, bewildering world and our place in it—from Berlin, Kuala Lumpur, places in between.

Jul 16, 2022

Recent letters

Slipping the boundaries

On the struggle to overcome systems that divide and shape us, even in intimate ways (& the writer's predisposition for the telling detail).

May 5

What we leave behind

...when home is two places.

Mar 11

City-crawling (& reading) through the seasons

In photos: from summer to fall's end in Berlin—and all the books I finished this year.

Dec 10, 2025

Watching Gaza, still...

...while enjoying the summer in Berlin, the discombobulation of it. (Plus: glimpses of the distorted 'economy' in Gaza.)

Sep 6, 2025

Finding my feet again

Turnings & transitions in Berlin, Feb–May 2025.

May 25, 2025

First impressions of Berlin, August 2019.

May 25, 2025

Movable Worlds

Movable Worlds

A newsletter about trying to make sense of a bewildered, bewildering world & our place in it.

Recommendations

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Rán Flygenring

The Line of Beauty

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The Fugitive World

Ben Mauk

Alexander Chee

In the Flash with Dina Litovsky

Dina Litovsky

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Selected letters

Peering around riverbends

A reflection on the river journeys I've taken, past and present.

May 4, 2024

Living in a world not of our own making

On Abang Adik and the tragedy of statelessness in Malaysia & what fiction may do, differently from journalism, for social justice.

Feb 29, 2024

On ceasefire, condemnations, and the deterioration of language.

Nov 21, 2023

Recapturing memories in a place I loved before: a fool's quest?

On revisiting Nusa Penida, now that it's become a popular destination for daytrippers from mainland Bali. (Really an essay about rethinking why and how…

Sep 4, 2023

Rebecca Chew: "I think being an outsider, or having that perspective, helps"

Q&A: An art director on moving from Malaysia to the U.S. for a dream job at the start of the pandemic, the differences in being a creative here and…

Mar 30, 2023

Movable Worlds

A newsletter about trying to make sense of a bewildered, bewildering world & our place in it.

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