Abby Seiff is an award-winning editor and journalist with a decade of experience, primarily in Asia. Her writing has appeared in publications like Time, Columbia Journalism Review, Pacific Standard, and many more. Read more >>
Recent Articles
At a Cambodian Lake, a Climate Crisis Unfolds
When I first met Ly Heng in May 2016, the forest behind his house was still smoldering — the remnants of the worst drought to hit Southeast Asia in decades. Heng lived along a small river at the top of Cambodia’s Tonle Sap Lake, in a protected area known for its rich biodiversity. At 45, he had never seen wildfires, and never seen the water level of the lake dip so low.Charred sticks and leaves crunched underfoot while Heng led me through the woodland, recounting his neighbors’ efforts to keep the fire from incinerating their houses.
Fighting Words
On a cloudy Sunday morning in early October, the first real strains of autumn playing through, I met the writer and activist Wilfred Chan at the edge of New York City’s Chinatown, where it bleeds into the far wealthier neighbourhood of SoHo. The area has been locked in an intense battle against gentrification, and it was losing this block — an upscale market pushed against cheap clothing stores, a skate shop around the corner selling a pack of boxers for $58.
Nearly 12,000 kilometres away, Hong Kong had just begun its eighteenth week of protests.
Letter from Kathmandu: The Omnipresence of Dust
It's the middle of winter, and the wards of Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital in downtown Kathmandu, Nepal, are full of people who can't breathe.
On the third-floor pediatrics ward, Basanta K.C. balances his baby daughter, Bursa, in his right arm and deftly threads a narrow plastic tube into her nostrils. As she struggles for air, her eyes bulge slightly, and her skin pulls tautly against tiny neck muscles.
"Sometimes she plays a lot, but within minutes she has problems breathing," says Bursa's mother, Dipa, surveying the pair. Bursa curls against her father with a look of preternatural calm; Dipa's forehead is knitted in concern. At 24, Dipa retains a measure of good humor, but faint worry lines run from the edges of her lips. Both she and Basanta, 29, have small, dark rings beneath their eyes.
A PARTIAL SELECTION OF CLIPS
Cambodians spoil ballots to protest poll critics labelled a sham - July 2018
Cambodia: Switching off independent radio stations - September 2018
Photo Essay: Economic migrants spark unlikely shifts in power in Nepal - July 2017
Kem Ley: Government critic shot dead in Cambodia - July 2016
Khmer Rouge's 'first lady' Ieng Thirith dies - August 2015
One year of Thai military rule passes with a whisper - May 2015
Beach murders put spotlight on Thai junta - Nov 2014
Khmer Rouge faces genocide charges - July 2014
Cambodia's deadlock ends but questions linger - July 2014
In the Mekong, questions arise over impact of favoring hydropower - April 2018
In Cambodia, payments to protect an endangered bird are no simple matter - April 2018
As Cambodian repression worsens, donors fret over their responses - December 2017
In Cambodia, holdouts fight a rising tide - August 2017
Cumulative exposure: A deadly health emergency that is ignored - May 2017
Trump immigration order could harm USAID's ability to carry out crucial work - February 2017
Report: Vietnamese activists under constant threat of violence - June 2017
Cambodian opposition presses on amid growing clampdown - July 2016
With Cambodia visit, Russia looks Southeast - Nov. 2015
Calls to halt controversial NGO law mount in Cambodia - Feb. 2015
Khmer Rouge tribunal to tackle genocide charges - July 2014
Cambodia’s UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal clears the way for genocide trial - July 2014
Erased: A disappearance in Thailand's Deep South - March 2016
In Yangon, Muslims cast a wary vote - Nov. 2015
In Vietnam, government losing battle against evangelism - Nov. 2015
Taking a stand against radical Buddhism in Sri Lanka - April 2015
Sharia law draws rave reviews in Indonesia's Aceh - March 2015
Hong Kong’s fight for independence - October 2019
Hong Kong: extradition bill ‘dead’ but not withdrawn despite outcry - July 2019
Rule by law in Southeast Asia - October 2018
Cambodia: confusion and fear as voters head to the polls - July 2018
Cambodia: first charges under controversial royal insult law - June 2018
Are Qatar’s reform efforts falling short? - Jun 2017
Thailand: Pressure mounts for enforced disappearance laws - May 2016
China’s latest crackdown on lawyers is unprecedented, human rights monitors say - Feb. 2016
The most dangerous job in law - Feb. 2015
How countries are successfully using the law to get looted cultural treasures back - July 2014
Seeking justice in the killing fields - March 2013
Logging in Cambodia - Dead Wood - December 2011
Thaksin in Cambodia - New Years' Partying - April 2012
BIO
Abby Seiff is an award-winning editor and journalist with nearly a decade of international experience, primarily in Southeast Asia. Her writing and photography have appeared in Newsweek, Time, the Associated Press, Al Jazeera, Pacific Standard, among others. She served as an editor for several years at The Cambodia Daily and The Phnom Penh Post, before going on to work at UCANews, Devex, and Asia Society.
In recent years, she has reported on Thailand’s southern insurgency, food security in the Mekong region, and migration in Nepal. Her work has garnered several awards and grants, including an International Reporting Project fellowship, a Logan Nonfiction fellowship, and a residency at Yaddo. She is currently writing a book about Cambodia's imperiled Tonle Sap lake and the fate of the millions who live off its fisheries, forthcoming from Potomac books.
To view a CV, click here.
