Prema Arasu (they/she) is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Minderoo-UWA Deep Sea Research Centre with a specialisation in creative writing and the environmental humanities. Prema has a strong interest in speculative fiction, experimental forms, sea monsters, mythology, multispecies ethnography, oceanic poetics, posthumanities and animalities, and the theory and praxis of worldbuilding.

Prema holds a BA (Hons) in English and Cultural Studies from UWA, a Master of Letters (MLitt) in Modern and Contemporary Literature and Culture from the University of St. Andrews, and a PhD in Creative Writing from UWA. Their PhD dissertation, titled The Anatomy of Witchcraft: Gender in Secondary Worlds is a full-length work of fantasy that draws upon queer and feminist scholarship to investigate and subvert the expectations of gender from within the genre. In 2023 The Anatomy of Witchcraft was shortlisted for the Fremantle Press Fogarty Literary Award.

Prema's research at the Deep-Sea Research Centre is necessarily interdisciplinary, involving aspects of animal studies and environmental philosophy to ask questions about the deep sea, its inhabitants, and the people who study it. Prema is interested in the construction of the ocean depths in the cultural imagination as demonstrated by all aspects of popular culture, including nature documentaries, horror films, clickbait articles, viedo games, and science fiction literature.

Prema is an early career writer who engages with experimental forms as a research methodology. Their creative output involves working closely with a team of scientists and engaging with the ongoing findings of the team through experimental writing. They are currently writing a poetry collection about the deep sea. Their edited anthology of sea monster stories, The Book of Sea Monsters, is forthcoming with Conway (expected publication 2025).

Prema welcomes enquiries from prospective Honours, Masters, or PhD students wishing to undertake research in areas related to the oceanic humanities, queer theory, science fiction and fantasy, horror, and the new weird.