Tag: Mental Ideas

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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

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Excited to have joined Everybody Media as a podcaster in their Collective! The London-based media company was founded by Naomi Mellor to produce and support podcasts that raise the voices of women and non-binary podcasters. The company partners podcasting giants like Wondery and is home to the annual International Women’s Podcast Awards. Being nominated for ‘Moment of Comedy Gold‘ by the IWPA in 2022 was one of the highlights of my year and I can’t wait to collaborate with them in 2023! Sharp Pains has just been uploaded to their site! You can find it and explore other podcasts here!

https://everybody-media.com

IWPA 2022 on IMDb

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I will be a guest on Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Skyler Jett‘s Music for Global Change broadcast later this year! God only knows what the lead vocalist for the legendary Commodores wants with me (unless it’s Bake Fail tips?) but I’m excited to be a guest on his podcast! In case you are interested, our conversation went like this: “Hello? Is it me you’re looking for? Or have you made some catastrophic error?”

Unfortunately, the time difference sucks (2.30am interview on a Tuesday anybody??) and so we have yet to confirm a date. But I’m hoping to make it back to Blighty later this year so hopefully we can record it live!

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Excited to find out the 21st Women in Publishing Society anthology Imprint 21 will launch on International Women’s Day (March 9) at the FCC as part of the 2023 Hong Kong International Literary Festival! Two of my humorous short stories are among the contributions and I am excited to have been invited to read Bake Fail at the event! Bake Fail broadcasted as an episode of Sharp Pains on RTHK Radio 3 and was published by the South China Morning Post as A Piece of Cake in 2022.

Bake Fail was nominated for Moment of Comedy Gold by the 2022 International Women’s Podcast Awards and an Official Select of the 2022 On Air Fest in Brooklyn. Sharp Pains was also shortlisted for Best Comedy Program by the 2022 New York Festivals Radio Awards and some of the stories about the sleep-deprived parents of twins long-listed by the 2022-2023 Comedy Women in Print Prize. More festival updates soon!

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It’s a wrap! Finito! Done! Thanks to the magnificent Resolve Foundation for the opportunity to serve as a mentor on this year’s fellowship. It’s been a wild ride and I have loved every minute of it. Most of all, thank you for matching me as a mentor with the dynamo of creativity and enthusiasm that is Eny Bawse! The fellowship may have ended, but our collaborations are only just getting started! I could not be prouder of Eny for all she has achieved and all that I know she will go on to achieve with her talent, wit, drive and inspired Self-Love Cupid project.

To support Resolve‘s work empowering community leaders to bring about social change, click here!

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Thank you to everyone who braved the filthy weather and turned down Thanksgiving to show up at Mind HK‘s poetry event Poetry for Mental Health: The Healing Power of Words in SoHo last night! The event was part of a week-long exhibition More Than A Label: I Was. I Am. I Will Be. I loved sharing and listening to the stories of the two other poets, the incredible Vish and Derek, and chatting about the stigma of mental illness in Hong Kong. There was an overwhelming amount of love in the air at the intimate event at the uber-cute gallery on Lyndhurst Street. I can’t wait for the next one!

Thanks to Mind for the endless encouragement, opportunity to read Imagine Nation, and for curating such a powerful exhibition of letters and artwork. I loved reading every single one of the letters on display and the psychedelic 3D artwork of Mind HK ambassadors’ brains! Thanks especially to Odile for emceeing and sharing her own insightful observations. If you’ve not already seen it, you’ve still got a chance! The exhibition is open until Monday.

#More Than A Label #Poetry for Mental Health: The Healing Power of Words #I Was. I Am. I Will Be

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I will be reading one of my strange experimental poems at a poetry event organised by Mind HK in Central Nov 24! The Healing Power of Words is part of an exhibition of art and letters by Mind HK ambassadors to celebrate the first anniversary of the charity’s More Than A Label anti-stigma campaign. Please join me and support Mind! I’m not really a poet but I will be pretending to be one by shouting and wearing a hat.

Sign up here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/poetry-for-mental-health-the-healing-power-of-words-tickets-467482271057

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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.