On Saturday, I attended the launch of the Hong Kong Women in Publishing Society's annual anthology: Imprint. The event was at the Foreign Correspondents' Club in Central, and it was attended by many WiPS members and their friends. I was asked to read part of my own contribution to the anthology, a creative non-fiction piece entitled Optimism. This is officially my first appearance in a print publication! We also heard readings from some accomplished poets and storytellers and the talented teenage winner of the secondary school writing competition conducted by WiPS.
The launch party for Imprint was also the launch of the new HK WiPS literary prize: the Saphira Prize. It calls for entries of 40,000-50,000 words, either works of fiction or memoir, which will be edited and published by WiPS. I don't know if I will have anything to enter yet, but the deadline isn't until September, so there's a little time. I'm tempted to try a novella.
On to the bookspotting! This week I saw a woman in an MTR station reading a book called Red Capitalism in South China. Later, I spotted a man reading Too Big To Fail by Andrew Ross Sorkin. This morning I saw a girl reading a hardcover book with an English title that had something to do industry, but I didn't see the whole thing. This weekend I saw a lot of people reading in Starbucks, but I didn't catch any titles. I counted six Chinese books this week, mostly in the MTR.
Thanks for the IMPRINT launch summary! I just saw the photos on FB and it looked like such a great event. The covers keep getting better and better. Can't wait to hold a copy in my hands. That was so great you had a chance to read your piece!
ReplyDeleteIt was a really nice event. I've enjoyed every HK WiPS event I've attended so far. It's a beautiful publication and we should both be proud to be a part of it :).
DeleteShannon, I recall that a few months ago you were looking for an editing job. I follow Asian Cha Literary Journal and their co-editor Tammy Ho posted today that someone is looking for a writr who's an editor and is based in Hong Kong. Send her an e-mail if you are interested at
ReplyDeletet@asiancha.com
Thank you for the tip, Giora! My current contract doesn't end until mid-August, but I will definitely send Tammy a message.
DeleteWell done on reading your piece Shannon. We'll celebrate tomorrow over a coffee at HBs. As for bookspotting, I saw a man reading an English paperback, something like "alphabet victims" bt an amazon search didn't come up with anything that looked like it. I saw two little Chinese girls reading the same English novel. I remember that was a popular thing when I was a librarian, like a challenge between 2 friends. It was pink...that was all I could see. Several Chinese with Kindles and one reading a library book (top edge stamping gives it away every time!)
ReplyDeleteThank you Joyce! I'm looking forward to our coffee tomorrow. My sisters and I used to fight over who got to read the latest Harry Potter books. We started buying multiple copies so we could all read at the same time.
DeleteCongratulations! I know how it feels as I have just seen my first short story in print in the HKWC anthology, As We See it: Hong Kong Stories. Very exciting, isn't it?!
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