Catch me back on RTHK Radio 3’s Brunch with Noreen this World Mental Health Day (Fri 10 Oct) from 11am when I’ll be chatting to Noz about mental health and sharing another poem!
Please support Mind HK‘s ‘Light the Spark’ campaign to bring free mental healthcare to young people this World Mental Health Day! 💟
I am bouncing off satellites to learn that four of my poems will be published in The Awakenings Review, an award-winning American literary journal published by The Awakenings Project in Chicago! Thank you Editor-in-Chief Robert Lundin for sparking my day! 💛
The Awakenings Review is one of the USA’s leading literary journals dedicated to publishing works by artists, writers, and poets with lived experiences of mental illness. Established in 2000 with the support of the University of Chicago, their biannual publication features contributors who have a personal connection to mental illness and offer insight and resilience without being demoralising.
The next publication, which I’ll be in, drops Spring 2026!
I am flushed to share that my humour column Flush Fiction will be published by The Hooghly Review as a weekly feature Feb 2026! Based in India, but attracting artists and writers from all over the world, The Hooghly Review is a digital free-access magazine of literature, culture, and arts. It’s the bold creation of its founding editors Ankit Raj Ojh and Tejaswinee Roychowdhury and listed on Chill Subs’ Best Lit Mags! I can’t wait to pull down my pants and lower the tone!
Feeling flushed at the HK Lit Fest! (2024)
What a blast and a huge honour to have been invited to speak to students at the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts as an ambassador for Mind HK about mental health, film and the arts alongside the amazing Kate Sullivan! Kate’s short film about mental health was screened at the event – check it out here! The event was moderated by the lovely Tiff! Thanks to everyone who made it happen!
This was my second event for Mind HK in the past month. I also had the joy of contributing as a panelist and an ambassador to Mind HK’s summer exhibition Listen to the Beat along with all these lovely people! 🥰
Another of my rants on mental health just found its way into the China Daily! Big thanks to editor Jessica Chen. This one delves into narcissism, a topic I’ve been reflecting on a little too often since producing To Love A Narcissist.
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!
Despite the Hong Kong weather’s best efforts to drown me on the way there and back, the launch of Mind HK’s summer 2025 exhibition Listen to the Beat at Our Gallery was EPIC – and PACKED!!! Congrats Mind HK for curating an unbeatable exhibition of ambassadors’ work! My contribution is among the handwritten letters on display. I also shared a bit of my story as part of a panel. If you’re looking for an inspiring, cool and DRY place to hang in Hong Kong this summer, swing by! The exhibition is open until 15 Aug.
Excited to be one of the ambassadors taking part in Mind HK’s summer 2025 exhibition at Our Gallery, Wan Chai. Last summer’s Here and Now exhibition at the 3812 Gallery was epic! This one is called Listen to the Beat. My contribution is a handwritten letter. The last thing I wrote by hand was my signature – it was declined by my bank as illegible.
I’ll also be sharing my story in a panel alongside two other ambassadors this coming SAT (2 Aug) from 3.30-5pm. Tix are free but you must sign up! The exhibition is open 1-15 Aug. If you’re sweating in the city this summer, swing by!
To Love A Narcissist will premiere at the Ariano International Film Festival 2025! The Italian premiere will be held at the Auditorium Lina Wertmüller di Ariano Irpino at 8.30pm Aug 1. The festival rewards filmmakers who have made a significant contribution to the history of Italian and international cinema and is a huge honour for Raff, whose family come from Ariano Irpino. A red carpet event Aug 3 will pay tribute to his work and be attended by some of the film’s stars: Lyndsey Marshal, Stephen Campbell-Moore and EP Sadie Frost. GRAZIE Ariano!
Next stops London and Hong Kong!
https://www.arianofilmfestival.it/2025/07/13/amare-un-narcisista-premiere-italiana/
To Love A Narcissist screened at the iconic Cinema Village in New York! The film was shown on the closing night of the Socially Relevant Film Festival 2025 and we were blown away by the emotional response to the film. Raff and I also had fun attending the festival’s opening night celebration at the historic National Arts Club in Gramercy Park.
This was the second time Contro Vento Films reached the competition stage of SRFF. We received the Jury Prize (Narrative Feature) for our viral bipolar love story Transference in 2020. It was an honour to be part of a diverse program of socially relevant films. Thanks to everyone who made it happen. We can’t wait for the next one!
https://www.ratedsrfilms.org/2025-program-narrative-features
