How This Narratively Contributor Turned His Investigative Reporting Into a Novel

From Manila’s cemetery slums to Taiwan's exploitative labor pool, Joe Henley’s thrilling new book puts a dramatic spotlight on the mistreatment of migrant workers.

Over the past seven years, we have been fortunate to build up an international network of storytellers who bring deeply reported tales from around the globe to Narratively. One of these writers is Joe Henley, a three-time contributor originally from Canada, now based in Taiwan. Henley’s work covers a wide range of topics – just at Narratively this year he wrote both  The Expat English Teachers’ Murderous Love Triangle and The 11-Year-Old Girl Taking Skateboarding By Storm. But one issue that he has been drawn to time and again is the mistreatment of migrant workers in Taiwan.  We chatted with Henley about his upcoming book Migrante, the conditions that migrant workers in Taiwan face, and his advice on how to pursue fiction writing.