My dystopian short story Toot has just landed on Amazon! It was published in the 2022 Hong Kong Writers Circle anthology, A Book of Changes. The anthology officially launches at the 2023 Hong Kong International Literary Festival March 12, but you can download it as an ebook or order in paperback on Amazon or from Bookazine now!
Sharp Pains has been longlisted for Ab Fab legend Helen Lederer‘s 2022-2023 Comedy Women in Print Prize! I am beyond elated and utterly flabbergasted to have crept onto this list in the company of so many awe-inspiring witty women writers! Helen Lederer’s involvement is the icing on the cakey, giving me an absolutely fabulous excuse to gratuitously tag Absolutely Fabulous on this post! Merry Christmas!
I am away with the fairies that two of my strange experimental poems, Imagine Nation and Tidal Slave, have received places in the 2022 Proverse Poetry Prize and will be published in Chinese University Press and Proverse Publishing‘s anthology Mingled Voices 7. The anthology will be launched at the Proverse Spring Reception April 27, 2023. The winners and finalists were announced last night at the Proverse Autumn Reception at the Helena May. You can catch me reading one of them at a poetry event organised by Mind HK this coming Thursday! Click here for the lowdown!
My first poem, War of Voices, was awarded a place in 2020 and published in Mingled Voices 5. You can hear me reading it on VYP here. Thank you, Proverse! You have made me very happy.
The story behind this year’s HKWC anthology, A Book of Changes, has been a lot more dramatic than anything you are likely to read inside! Hats off to the editors who have somehow kept their sanity. My chocolate horror story, Toot, is a bit of a departure from the usual stuff I write and I am excited to see it in print! The anthology doesn’t officially launch until the 2023 Hong Kong International Lit Fest in March 2023 but will be uploaded to Amazon shortly before. Sneak peak of the cover art below!
Also launching in March 2023 is the Women in Publishing Society‘s anthology Imprint 21, which will be held at the Foreign Correspondents Club. A couple of my humorous short stories are buried deep inside, like splinters of smashed Heiniken bottles nestled amongst precious emeralds…
More anthology news TBA Nov 18!
Thanks to the Women with Whips, sorry WiPS, for giving me a cracking welcome to the Women in Publishing Society and plugging my writing, bake fails, and other obvious shortcomings on their Woman at Work platform! Can’t wait to whip up a frenzy of creative collaborations with these crazy, inspiring women! Just putting the final spit and polish (so far, just spit) on my submissions for this year’s Imprint anthology, Imprint 21, which will hopefully be launched (Covidy wavey things permitting) at an event at the FCC in November!
Double Trouble, Double Vision and Double Dutch collided today when my 3 Terrifying Short Stories about the deranged, sleep-deprived new parents of twins were published in a spectacularly festive edition of the South China Morning Post‘s Post Magazine! It was a deranged way to end a deranged year in which pumping out deranged humour columns for RTHK Radio 3 has been the only thing keeping me SANE (ish).
Thanks to the editors and the SCMP artist who brought the stories to life with eye-catching illustrations! The magazine version was waaaaaayyyyy cooler, but you can still read the online version here: https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3159075/3-terrifying-almost-true-new-parent-stories-hong
I had an absolute blast taking part in my first lit fest last weekend reading an excerpt from my absurdist short story Shitstorm at the 2021 Hong Kong International Literary Festival! Shitstorm is one of many short stories published by the Hong Kong Writers Circle in their 2021 anthology After The Storm.
The book is now available to buy in paperback and as an e-book on Amazon, in Bookazine and (from next Friday) Kidnapped in Sai Kung! Thanks to Hong Kong Buzz for their cheeky little plug and to the Writers Circle for introducing me to some of the best people in Hong Kong! If you’d like to join our Circle, click here! And if you’d like to support the HK Lit Fest by sponsoring an event or becoming a patron, click here!
I had a blast attending Proverse Publishing‘s Autumn Reception at the Helena May last Thursday, mixing and mingling with the winners and finalists of the 2021 Proverse Poetry Prize! Congrats to all and to Proverse for organizing such a fun event! I’m also excited to be interviewing a couple of them for my next series of Mental Ideas, which will broadcast in 2022. S2 explores the relationship between mental health and imagination in a psychedelic way! First up is the incredible Vishal Nanda, who blew me away with his lively speech and inspired poetry book Please Stand Back From The Platform Door. Vishal is a fellow ‘bipolar bear’ (as he signed his book to me), but I’m certain that’s the least interesting thing about him. He is donating ticket sales from his upcoming book launch on Dec 8 to mental health charity Mind. Don’t miss it!!!
Catch me reading an excerpt from my short story Shitstorm in the Hong Kong Writers Circle‘s 2021 anthology After The Storm at a Hong Kong International Literary Festival event at the Hong Kong Fringe Club Nov 12! Admission is free, but you do have to book as space is limited. The anthology will be published the same day or shortly after (definitely in time for Christmas!) and available to buy from booksellers, including Bookazine and Amazon. Bring on the festive fun! (Halloween feels more of a trick than a treat now you have to wear two masks!!)
After reading my first poem for the first time at the HKU Libraries Reading Club and miraculously resisting the impulse to sing it, more potential peril looms this week when I’ll be sneaking into the studio and recording War of Voices for Dr. Ahmed Elbeshlawy‘s Voice Your Passion poetry channel!The poem will be up Oct 18!
The poem was published by Proverse Publishing and Chinese University Press April 22, 2021 after winning a place in the 2020 Proverse Poetry Prize anthology, Mingled Voices 5.
https://cup.cuhk.edu.hk/MingledVoices5
