Thanks to the China Daily for publishing my piece on why we need to change the lexicon on suicide in their Hong Kong and Asia Weekly editions a few weeks ago! I am always grateful for a platform to discuss difficult subjects related to mental health. 🙏🏼
https://www.chinadailyasia.com/article/381338#Why-we-need-to-change-the-way-we-talk-about-suicide
Thank you to the curators of TEDxLPCUWC Youth for inviting me to speak at their TEDx event at Li Po Chun United World College yesterday! The best thing about doing a TEDx is meeting and listening to the other speakers interpret the same theme in their own unique way. The theme for this one was A Fractal of Perspectives, which meant the first thing I had to do was google ‘fractal’ and the second thing I had to do was google ‘how to use fractal in a sentence’. (The speech kind of wrote itself from there.)
I’m so grateful to have had this experience that was inspiring, uplifting and often hilarious! Congratulations to the student organisers and volunteers who did such an incredible job, coping with technical difficulties, and thanks to the amazing audience! This included my pal Philippe who had travelled all the way from DB to remind me “Just remember to stand in the big red box!” Unfortunately, I have never managed to stay in the box my entire life – and this experience proved no exception.
Most of all, thanks to Joanna Jayalakshman Mohan for coming to the WiPS launch of Imprint 22 at the HK Lit Fest, which kickstarted my TEDx interlude, and for bringing it to a fitting conclusion with the following conversation:
Me: Hey, we should meet up for a drink some time!
Her: Sure, that would be great as soon as I turn 18!
Me: 😮
(If you want people to guess you’re underage, here’s a tip: don’t use words like ‘fractal’! 😂 I had just assumed they were young-looking PhD students…)
So, that’s how my first TEDx ended. Not with champagne but with the creeping realisation I had been caught corrupting a minor. 🤣🤣🤣
https://www.ted.com/tedx/events/56987
My third and final event of the Hong Kong International Literary Festival 2024 was the Women in Publishing Society‘s launch of anthology Imprint 22. I had an absolute blast reading my humorous short story The Snide Sniper to a rather well lubricated and very appreciative crowd at the Foreign Correspondents Club!
I am honoured to have had three very different pieces published in this year’s beautifully illustrated and meticulously edited anthology – The Snide Sniper, poem Barking Mad (along with a sketch of my beloved pooch Hobo) and a personal essay on how my neurodiversity (ADHD) can turbocharge my creativity but make me feel like a typo. You can purchase the book from the Lion Rock Press, Bookazine, Vibe and the FCC!
Congratulations to editor Carol Dyer, Polly, Gillian, Leslie, Rinkoo and all the WiPS team. Also to Joanna and Ursula for coming out to support what was an epic prelude to International Women’s Day!
The Hong Kong Writers Circle‘s 19th anthology Lost in Transition launched in a ‘sold out‘ event at the Hong Kong International Lit Fest on Wednesday evening – and sold out of copies at Bookazine 48 hours later! Thanks to everyone who came out to support! The anthology will be restocked at Bookazine and uploaded to Amazon shortly!
Join me for my final event of HKILF 2024 when I’ll be performing my humorous short story The Snide Sniper at the Women in Publishing Society‘s launch of Imprint 22 at the FCC!
https://bookazine.com.hk/products/lost-in-transition
Thank you to Vicki and Mind HK for the opportunity to perform a bunch of humorous poems alongside my fellow ambassadors Vish and Derek in the first event of the 2024 Hong Kong International Literary Festival last night! Thank you so much to everyone who attended for being such an appreciative audience and to my amazing friends and fam; Philippe, Noz, Charles, Stewart, Eny, Mio, Carol, Susan, Nathan, Chriz and Amy!
Tomorrow night is the launch of Hong Kong Writers Circle anthology Lost in Transition and I’ll be reading again. That’s sold out too but there’s a good chance of no-shows so it’s definitely worth trying your luck on the door. Hope to see you there!
Thanks to the SCMP for publishing this piece in which I attempt to explain bipolar disorder in their Health & Wellness section today! Also for reminding me that I founded Bipolar Hong Kong in 2014. That is TEN YEARS AGO!!!! A DECADE of support groups in Starbucks without any of us having bought a coffee! 🤣
It was the second chat I’ve had with journalist Anthea Rowan about bipolar and a pleasure reconnecting! Our first in 2021 can be found here.
The Hong Kong Writers Circle‘s launch of Lost in Transition at the Hong Kong Lit Fest has sold out a week after Poetry, Stories and Mental Health! This means I only have one lit fest event left where you can still grab a ticket! Please act fast to book for the Women in Publishing Society‘s launch of Imprint 22 at the FCC on 7 March! This one’ll cost you, but includes free wine or bubbles, a delicious buffet, two copies of the anthology per guest and a full evening’s entertainment at the FCC from 7-10pm, where I will be among the readers. Hope to see you there!
Thanks to Mind HK for organising an evening of storytelling and poetry inspired by mental health with me and fellow ambassadors Vish and Derek at the Anita Chan Lai-ling Gallery 4 March! Unbelievably, this Hong Kong International Literary Festival event sold out before I had a chance to write a post about it! 😮 Not even I have a ticket! 🤣
Happily, tickets ARE still available for Mind HK‘s Conversations of the Heart event at Tai Kwun Sat 24 Feb! Vish, Derek and I will be among the ambassadors sharing stories and poems from 10.30-11.30am. I promise you Vish is off-the-scale, Derek is a rising star, and I am Poet Laureate of my bathroom. You can get tickets here!
We are just the warm up act for a whole day of inspiring talks, panel discussions and presentations by awesome Mind staff and other ambassadors. I will be there all day. Hope to see you there!
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
The Women in Publishing Society‘s 2023-2024 anthology Imprint 22 is launching at the FCC as part of the 2024 Hong Kong International Literary Festival 7 March! Last year, I had the joy of performing Bake Fail at the HKILF 2023 launch of Imprint 21. This year, I’ve also been invited to read, although I haven’t yet decided what. Join me and the women with WiPS from 7-10pm at the FCC for another evening of fun and frivolity celebrating women’s voices!
https://www.hkwips.com/event/launch-of-imprint-22
https://www.eventbrite.hk/e/book-launch-imprint-22-womens-voices-tickets-823328446547
