January brought a plethora of literary events, from author talks to publishing announcements. In Mexico, the publishing house Juan de la Cosa / John of the Thing put out a new bilingual poetry volume. In Hong Kong, the Dante Alighieri Society hosted a discussion on writing in your second language. Read on to find out more!
Alan Mendoza Sosa, Editor-at-Large, reporting from Mexico
The first month of 2022 has seen many commercial and independent publishers announce new books, both in Spanish and in translation. Though the year, like the two before it, will also be strangled by the global pandemic, the exciting vitality of the publishing scene brings momentary solace and hope.
North American publishing house Deep Vellum published The Love Parade, George Henson’s translation of El desfile del amor, a detective fiction by acclaimed Mexican writer Sergio Pitol originally published by Anagrama in 1985. An expert in contemporary fiction from Latin America, Henson has also contributed to Asymptote in the past, publishing the translated work of other outstanding Spanish-speaking authors such as the Mexican Alberto Chimal and the Peruvian Pedro Novoa. Deep Vellum is not new to Mexican literature either; its catalogue includes the names of contemporary international luminaries from Mexico, among them the poets Carmen Boullosa, Rocío Cerón, and Tedi López Mills.
The renowned Mexican writer Valeria Luiselli co-edited the sixty-fifth edition of independent San Francisco-based literary journal McSweeney’s, assembling a stellar collection of stories, letters, and translations. The compendium is not only dazzling but also urgently political. According to the journal’s website, the issue “delves into extraction, exploitation, and defiance.” The quarterly includes work by several internationally acclaimed writers from the American continent. Many are authors whom Asymptote has featured in the past, such as Gabriela Wiener, Samanta Schweblin, and Claudia Domingo. Their names are listed alongside other famous voices who have rapidly achieved international fame, including Laia Jufresa, Megan McDowell, and Yásnaya Elena Aguilar Gil.
The emergent indie Mexican publisher Juan de la Cosa / John of the Thing published A pesar de todo / In Spite of Ourselves, a bilingual collection of poems by Tatiana Lipkes translated by seasoned Asymptote contributor Robin Myers. Exploring everyday life, the book includes prose poems composed of fragmentary language that privileges imagery, perception, and linguistic experimentation.
Charlie Ng, Editor-at-Large, reporting from Hong Kong:
At the turn of the year, a number of poetry events have enlivened the city despite the fear of a fifth wave of the COVID-19 outbreak. On 27 December, Kubrick Poetry, the poetry club of Kubrick Bookshop, hosted a poetry reading and discussion on A Gateway Has Opened, the first collection by emerging Hong Kong-based poet Liam Blackford. Titled “The Harmonious Six” and moderated by Polly Ho, Liam Blackford was invited to discuss the symmetrical aesthetics that he explores in his poems, which were written “with six stanzas, six lines per stanza, and six syllables per line.” He experimented with this regular poetic form while writing about a wide variety of subject matter.
Hong Kong’s longest-running English poetry collective, OutLoud Hong Kong, had their first 2022 reading on 5 January. The literary group meets on the first Wednesday of every month to discuss poetry writing and explore various styles. Meanwhile, Italian-born, Hong Kong-based writer Paola Caronni has just published her debut poetry collection, Uncharted Waters. Dante Alighieri Society in Hong Kong organized a “Meet the Author” event on 7 January at which Caronni was invited to discuss her experience living in two cultures and writing in her second language. The title of Uncharted Waters not only reflects Caronni’s geographical exploration but also acts as a metaphor for the challenges of writing in a foreign tongue.
The Chinese University of Hong Kong’s Cart Noodle Press is dedicated to publishing Hong Kong literature. To compile a new anthology of literature and art on Hong Kong, editor Nicolette Wong is calling for submissions of prose, poetry, translation, or hybrid media works related to the theme of making space. The deadline for submissions is 20 May 2022.
*****
Read more on the Asymptote blog: