This week, our writers bring you the latest news from Singapore, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom. In Singapore, the Singapore Writers’ Festival hosted international writers, such as Liu Cixin, Teju Cole, and Sharon Olds, whilst the Cordite Poetry Review published a special feature on Singapore poetry; in Taiwan, Kishu An Forest of Literature centre has held a discussion about a new translation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; and in the UK, Carcanet Press has launched Eavan Boland’s final collection, The Historians, whilst new books about renowned poets Seamus Heaney, Sylvia Plath, and Anne Sexton have been released. Read on to find out more!
Shawn Hoo, Editor-at-Large, reporting from Singapore:
The beginning of November sees a deluge of new writing coming from a host of literary journals. Joshua Ip and Alvin Pang have guest edited a special feature on Singapore poetry in Cordite Poetry Review that gives us the rare pleasure of rethinking Singapore poetry through the art of transcreation. The editors commissioned thirty young poets (who write primarily in English) for the challenge of transcreating verse, not just from the official languages of Malay, Tamil, and Chinese, but also ‘minor’ languages such as Kristang, Bengali, and Tagalog that make up Singapore’s linguistic soundscape. Additionally, Mahogany Journal, a new online periodical on the scene for anglophone South Asian writers in Singapore, has just released their second issue, which is themed ‘Retellings.’ Finally, one of our longest-running online journals, the Quarterly Literary Review of Singapore, has launched its October issue. Lovers of Singapore literature have a huge array of choice.
Meanwhile, this year’s virtual Singapore Writers’ Festival (mentioned in my October dispatch) concluded last weekend. While festivalgoers did not experience the familiar ritual of queuing and squeezing into a room packed with fellow writers and readers, the online format delivered its own peculiarities. Liu Cixin, Teju Cole, and Sharon Olds were some of the international stars joining us from different time zones across our devices. Margaret Atwood, whose message to novelist Balli Kaur Jaswal was a hopeful “we will get through,” had many viewers sending questions through a live chat box asking the author of The Handmaid’s Tale what it means to write in these dystopian times. Instead of browsing the festival bookstore in between panels, I scrolled through the webstore run by Closetful of Books. Nifty videos were added to lure me to new book releases, booksellers curated a list of recommended reads, while readers craving connection left love notes to nobody in particular. The copy of Intimations I ordered arrived with a sweet touch: it came with a bookplate signed by Zadie Smith. With access to video on demand, rather than rushing from room to room, I found myself toggling between panels on Southeast Asian historical fiction and Korean horror without so much as lifting a finger. If I find myself unable to concentrate (as Zadie Smith said of our social media age: “I feel very bullied at the speed I am told to think daily”), I tune in to Poetry Bites to hear Marc Nair engage in ten-minute intimate chats with ten poets. Kudos to festival director Pooja Nansi and her team for this massively successful event. We are all already looking forward to what the next year’s edition of the festival brings.
Vivian Chih, Editor-at-Large, reporting from Taiwan
Amidst the month-long annual Golden Horse Film Festival marathon in Taiwan this November, YouTube is collaborating with the Central Motion Picture Company (the online streaming platform for queer films), GagaOOLala, and the Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute to launch a special event, “online movie-watching month.” The event is featuring one film each night produced by a contemporary Taiwanese director on YouTube from November 5 to 29. Get comfortable at home and watch these classic Taiwanese films made across the decades, including The Sandwich Man (兒子的大玩偶, 1993), adapted from a novella composed by the novelist Huang Chun-Ming (黃春明) and directed by one of the most representative directors of Taiwanese New Wave, Hou Hsiao-Hsien (侯孝賢). While this free online event is open to YouTube users worldwide, audiences in the U.S. can enjoy the privilege of watching another series of Taiwanese films via “Taiwanese Cinema Rediscovered” throughout November by purchasing a pass.
In Taiwan’s literary scene, Kishu An Forest of Literature will hold a discussion on November 21 for the new translation of Mary Shelley’s classic, Frankenstein. Kishu An Forest of Literature is a space for cultural and literary salons in Taipei, renovated from a Japanese-style wooden house that was built in 1917 during the colonial period. The conversations will be led by the Taiwanese essayist and literary critic Yang Zhao (楊照) and the chief editor of Taiwan’s largest online platform for scientific articles, “PanSci.” This translated version features special annotations from the scientists working at MIT and seven critical essays from different disciplines, including philosophy, gender studies, ethics, and biotechnology. In addition, Linking Publishing will be hosting a talk on their new book featuring two original scripts composed by Feng Yi-kang (馮翊綱), the head and art supervisor of “Comedians workshop” (相聲瓦舍) and a well-known Xiangsheng performer himself. Xiangsheng (相聲) is a genre of stage performing art that originated in Mainland China, which mainly performs Chinese comedies. “Comedians workshop” is a theater group dedicated to performing and promoting the art of Xiangsheng in Taiwan.
Sarah Moore, Blog Editor, reporting from the United Kingdom
Independent bookshops in the UK have had a huge boost with the launch of new website bookshop.org. Launched on November 2 (after a successful launch in the US earlier this year), the website has partnered with over 130 local independent bookshops to challenge Amazon’s market share and offer alternative online purchasing solutions. It generated more than £100,000 in profit for indie booksellers during its first nine days of trading.
The eagerly anticipated Booker Prize ceremony, scheduled to take place on November 19, has announced its line up of guests, including former US President Barack Obama, alongside former Booker Prize winners including Bernardine Evaristo, Kazuo Ishiguro, and Margaret Atwood. In line for this year’s prize are: This Mournable Body by Tsitsi Dangarembga, Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart, Real Life by Brandon Taylor, The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste, Burnt Sugar by Avni Doshi, and The New Wilderness by Diane Cook.
Barack Obama has also been making headlines ahead of the release of his latest memoir, A Promised Land. Scheduled for publication on November 17, the book has already been reviewed by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie for the New York Times.
As lockdown restrictions continue to prevent in-person book events, launches have been taking place online. Carcanet Press hosted a Zoom event to launch Irish poet Eavan Boland’s final, posthumous collection, The Historians. Boland passed away in April this year and was a leading voice in feminist and Irish literature. Poet and academic John McAuliffe hosted the event, discussing Boland’s final work and legacy with her UK publisher, Michael Schmidt, and a leading authority on her poetry, Jody Allen-Randolph.
Poetry fans have also been treated to new biographies of Sylvia Plath and Seamus Heaney, and an important reissue of Anne Sexton’s poetry in the last month. Red Comet is Heather Clark’s fresh account of Sylvia Plath’s life, intended to refocus biographical interest on Plath’s poetry, rather than the circumstances of her death. R. F. Foster’s new biography of beloved Irish poet Seamus Heaney, On Seamus Heaney, considers Heaney’s appeal to an exceptionally wide readership, as well as his renown in the international academic world. Finally, Mercies: Selected Poems by Anne Sexton has just been published in the Penguin Modern Classics series. This is an important new UK edition of Sexton’s work (the first for decades), which collects the poetry that made her renowned for her frankness and willingness to approach taboo subjects, such as depression, addiction, and menstruation.
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