Culture: Leakhena Ly, the Apsara who writes for the world, the story of a success

Editorial team
3 hours ago
4 min read

With Almost Love: A Past-Life Destiny, the Khmer novelist delivers a debut that travels across eight countries and two lifetimes—translated by the sheer force of a universal language: love.

Leakhena Ly, the Apsara who writes for the world, the story of a success

She chose a pen name that says it all: Apsara, those celestial dancers carved in the stone of Angkor, figures of grace and eternal memory. Behind the pseudonym is Leakhena Ly, a contemporary Cambodian woman, business leader, mother, and now the author of a novel recognized as far as the United Kingdom and Canada. On June 25, 2026, at Meta House in Phnom Penh, she presents Almost Love: A Past-Life Destiny—her first book, her act of faith in contemporary Cambodian literature.

A stage name steeped in centuries

Choosing Apsara as a pen name is no literary whim. In Khmer mythology, Apsaras are divine spirits, immortal dancers whose forms have adorned the bas-reliefs of Angkor Wat for nine centuries. By invoking them, Leakhena Ly immediately situates her work within a millennia-old cultural continuum: she does not merely write in English for the world—she carries an entire civilization in the rhythm of her sentences.

The initials “L.L.” discreetly complete the picture—Leakhena Ly, her two initials like a coded, intimate signature. A way of saying: I am here, fully, but it is the Apsara who speaks first.

One novel, eight countries, two lives

Almost Love: A Past-Life Destiny is not, strictly speaking, a conventional romance. It is a journey—sensory, geographical, spiritual. The story of Malis and Yuth begins in Cambodia, between the skyline of Phnom Penh, the ancestral stones of Angkor, the sacred cliffs of Preah Vihear, and the phosphorescent waters of Koh Rong Sanloem. It then stretches to Japan, Taiwan, Bali, Vienna, Prague, Paris, and the United States—eight countries, a single lifeline reaching back to 1969, into the memory of a previous existence.

The novel is also, the author notes, a reflection on choices: loving fully without losing oneself, knowing when to leave, and doing so with grace. A philosophy deeply Khmer in its relationship to karma and the continuity of souls, expressed through a resolutely contemporary narrative. The edition includes thirty original illustrations that enrich the reading experience, turning the book into an object in its own right.

“This book is deeply rooted in Cambodia—it could only have been written by a Cambodian woman.” — International reader, review published on Amazon

Unexpected international recognition

For a self-published debut, released in December 2025 under her own label Apsara L.L. Art & Creative Studio, the trajectory is remarkable. Reedsy Discovery in the United Kingdom awarded it a four-star editorial review, praising a work that is “lyrical, introspective, and imbued with spiritual resonance.” The novel also reached the quarterfinals of the First Page Cage Competition by Pulp Literature in Canada and was shortlisted in several categories: Best Fiction, Best Romance, and Best Contemporary Romance.

Within a few months, the book found readers in 21 countries across 5 continents—from the United Kingdom to Japan, from Ghana to Kazakhstan, from Bolivia to Australia. This map of readers speaks more clearly than any discourse about the universal reach of a story born on the banks of the Mekong.

Distribution, handled by IngramSpark, Amazon Worldwide, and Kindle, has opened the doors to bookstores such as Foyles in London, Books-A-Million in the United States, retailers across Europe, and Coupang in South Korea. In Cambodia, it is available at Tsutaya Bookstore and Page bookstore.

Nationally, the book has been covered by six major Cambodian media platforms—DAP News (English and Khmer editions), Fresh News Cambodia, Sabay News, Khmerload, and Kanha—along with Cambodge Mag for the Francophone community. A rare level of media attention for a first novel.

The bold choice of genre in service of a cause

The choice of romance—the world’s most widely read genre, with 51 million copies sold in the United States alone over the past twelve months according to Circana BookScan—is deliberate. Leakhena Ly fully embraces it: romance is a universal language, the most effective vehicle for carrying a Cambodian story beyond borders. “Love transcends generations, cultures, and genres,” she writes. Where a “literary” Cambodian novel might have faced distribution barriers, romance opens shelves—and hearts.

The initiative goes further. A portion of the profits is directed to Cambodian military families through the organization Aziza’s Place. The author states it plainly: literature is also compassion. Stories travel beyond the page.

A creative team across continents

Behind the novel stands an international team. Susan Fletcher Haythorpe (United Kingdom) handled developmental and line editing. Jodie Nott (Australia) served as the first reader. Susan Lloyd (United Kingdom) completed the final proofreading. Charkya Sam, Franco-Khmer, worked on visual art and supervised graphic design. Thirty original illustrations punctuate the text, creating a reading experience that is as much illustrated book as novel.

This collective dimension—a story born in Phnom Penh, refined in London, read in Sydney, illustrated between Paris and Phnom Penh—embodies the ambition of Apsara L.L.: to make Cambodian creation a borderless project.

June 25 at Meta House: a literary evening not to miss

The public presentation of the book will take place on Wednesday, June 25, 2026, from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM at Meta House in Phnom Penh, a key venue in the capital’s independent cultural scene. A meet-and-greet and book signing will follow the author’s talk. The event is part of Book-Nerd, organized by Factory Phnom Penh and Inspiration Library, with support from Tada and partnership with Little Library and TBL Cambodia.

For those who wish to encounter an authentic Cambodian literary voice—neither nostalgic for ruins nor confined by the foreign gaze, but firmly oriented toward the future—the evening promises to be a distinctive moment.