The Hong Kong Writers Circle launched its 21st anthology Coming of Age at the Asia Society on Sat night to an (almost) full house! I shared a hairy moment from my trilogy of short humour stories, Ageless. HUGE thanks to Team HKILF for putting together a cracking festival, anthology editors Jay & Julian, all contributors and most of all, the unbeatable audience!
I love connecting with established and emerging visual artists as art editor for the HKWC‘s quirky lit mag! Issue 9 of The Apostrophe on the theme of ‘ROOTS‘ featured a cracking cover by Bethan Clark and stand-out artwork by Sai Pradhan and Ilos Ilyas Elias Kirkan, who has also been Mental Ideas‘ most prolific contributor in quite some time!
The theme for Issue 10 was PASSION. This one featured an exquisite cover by Ilos Ilyas Elias Kirkan and more delectable artwork by Jade Bryant (cover artist Issue 1), Anthony Roussell, Carl Scharwath, Susan Pollet, Tiziana Rasile and Ricky Sadiosa. If you’re passionate about art and would like to submit to our next issue (theme is ‘FLEX’), please reach out!
Taking part in the HK Lit Fest launches of the Hong Kong Writers Circle‘s and Women in Publishing Society‘s anthologies is always a hit of dopamine. In 2025, two of my flashiest flash fiction pieces (aptly titled ‘Two Shit Shorts’) will be flushed in HKWC anthology Score. The event will be held at the Jockey Club Theatre at the Hong Kong Fringe on 2 March at 6pm – and as it’s a celebration of 20 years of the Circle AND a leaving party for some of us, come to party!
The Women in Publishing Society will be launching their anthology Imprint 23 at the FCC from 7-10pm on Weds 5th March. This is always a blast. I’ll be reading at both events. Wheeeeee!
Another action-packed (and themed) edition of The Apostrophe (Issue 7) has dropped on Substack! It can also be read and downloaded as a pdf here!
This one features incredible photography by Anthony Roussel (cover artist) and Philippe Joly, and spectacular art by Julien Pantz. Thanks to everyone who contributed!
Submissions for our next issue on the theme of ‘Character’ are open now!
Issue 6 of The Apostrophe on the theme of ‘Excuses’ just dropped on Substack! The perk of being art editor for the HKWC’s quirky lit mag is not needing an excuse to connect with and showcase the talents of inspiring established and emerging visual artists! This edition features an ingenious scrabble poem cover by artist Rachel P Smith!
The theme for Issue 7 is ‘Action’. No more excuses – GO for it!
Issue 5 of The Apostrophe is a tasty morsel of poetry, fiction and art! It’s always exciting to connect with new artists as art editor, especially when they are as quirky and talented as Victoria Mae Martyn and Andreas Vonbuddenbrock! Victoria’s kooky cover art is called ‘Corporate Coffee’ 😆 and Andreas’ stunning sketch of HK is called ‘Infinity’. Thanks to editors Jan Lee and Sam Powney, all the writers, poets and artists who made this our most striking edition yet!
The Hong Kong Writers Circle‘s 19th anthology, Lost in Transition, will launch at the 2024 Hong Kong International Literary Festival March 6! The event will be held 7.30pm – 8.45pm in the Jockey Club Studio at the Hong Kong Fringe Club. This year’s anthology contains 30 short stories and poems inspired by Hong Kong’s underground life-support system – the MTR! (I also set my own theme of ‘Yakult’.) Tickets are FREE but you must book now as there are very few left!
As well as contributing, I assisted Stewart McKay to edit this anthology, which is the thickest yet! (That’s thick in terms of width, not talent.) It contains many weird and wonderful poems and stories by local writers so please support and if you write, join us! HUGE thanks to my good pal Philippe Joly for helping design the cover and my nephew Kaz for taking the cover shot!
So stand back from the platform door and please don’t find yourself lost in transition…
https://www.eventbrite.hk/e/book-launch-lost-in-transition-tickets-821645061497
Issue 2 of the Hong Kong Writers Circle‘s literary magazine The Apostrophe on the theme of ‘MIND‘ is live on Substack! Congratulations to the published writers and artists, including Rebecca Dandridge-Walker, Julian Pantz and Kasra Shroff! Submissions for Issue 3 close on Halloween 2023. The theme is ‘Mistake’ but this is a trick! The only mistake you can make is not entering!
Fresh from launching A Book of Changes at the 2023 Hong Kong International Literary Festival, the Hong Kong Writers Circle opened submissions for its new quarterly online magazine The Apostrophe – on APRIL 1st – no joke! The name is derived from the irony that a bunch of so-called writers omitted the apostrophe when registering the Society. Technically, we should be the Hong Kong Writers’ Circle, but we are not. We are the Hong Kong Writers Circle. This grammatical faux pas has split the Circle into two feuding semicircles: those of us who know what an apostrophe is and how to use one and those of us who do’nt.
I am apparently Art Editor because nobody trusts me with an apostrophe. Artists are warmly encouraged to submit from anywhere in the world. There are no limits on the number of submissions. I look forward to reviewing your art!
https://hkwcmagazine.substack.com/p/submissions
You can also email your art to sadie@mentalideas.org
SAVE THE DATE: A Book of Changes will launch on the closing night of the 2023 Hong Kong International Lit Fest March 12 upstairs at the Fringe! I will be reading an extract from my short story Toot, a chocolate horror. Join me and the Hong Kong Writers Circle for a hotpot of short stories, poetry and debauchery from 7pm! You can get tickets here!
