This week, our editors from around the world report on literary celebrations in Bulgaria and historical archives of Chinese literature in Hong Kong. Read on to find out more!
Andriana Hamas, Editor-at-Large, reporting from Bulgaria
Plovdiv, one of Bulgaria’s oldest cities and the European Capital of Culture for 2019, recently hosted the twentieth anniversary edition of its renowned literary festival: Пловдив чете (“Plovdiv Reads”). For twenty years, the month of June has seen both established and up-and-coming authors sit side by side, trying to unravel the mysteries of the written word. Among the most notable participants this year were Zdravka Evtimova, winner of the Chudomir National Award; the writer and translator Chavdar Tsvenov; the literary historian Cleo Protohristova; the critic Boris Minkov, known for his masterful editorial skills; the publisher Svetlozar Zhelev, who takes pleasure in mediating literary friendships; and the experimental writer Rene Karabash.
Over the course of approximately two weeks, the various hosts and their audiences reviewed some of the best that contemporary Bulgarian fiction has to offer. However, the festivities weren’t restricted to the local literary stars, but also included prominent international guests such as the Ukrainian novelist Haska Shyyan—who commented on her new book in light of the dreadful developments in Ukraine that have shaken the world over the past few months. Another event of note was the special talk devoted to the twentieth-century Bulgarian poet and translator Atanas Dalchev, and the relatively unfamiliar circumstances surrounding his life in Thessaloniki and Istanbul.
To conclude the literary celebrations, translator Stefan Rusinov (interviewed previously on Asymptote) and Joanna Elmy (who won the prestigious South Spring contest for her debut novel Made of Guilt), engaged in an enchanting conversation. Prior to the event, the author actively encouraged her social media followers to not attend, and to participate instead in the nationwide protests against parliamentary corruption; yet another proof that art and artists can do more than just stand witness to history.
Charlie Ng, Editor-at-Large, reporting from Hong Kong
As one of the events to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the establishment of the HKSAR (Hong Kong Special Administrative Region), the Hong Kong Palace Museum located in the West Kowloon Cultural District will open to the public in July 2022. The West Kowloon Cultural District is designed to be a grand project that accommodates seventeen venues for different art exhibitions and performances. However, the demand for a Hong Kong literary museum in the Cultural District has been voiced over the years due to the peculiar absence of literature in the cultural project. As the new Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu began his five-year term of office on 1 July, the Chairman of the Federation of Hong Kong Writers Poon Yiu-ming again petitioned to Lee for the establishment of a literary museum, which has been believed to be an invaluable place to record and honour local literary writing.
Although an official museum for literature is not close in sight, archives of Hong Kong literature have been around for long. One of the most prominent collections is housed by the library of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Literature Collection was established twenty years ago with a generous donation by Professor Lo Wai-luen, who is an award-winning prose writer and scholar of literature. The collection preserves many important artifacts of Hong Kong literature, including early Hong Kong literary magazines (dated back to the 1920s), out-of-print editions of Hong Kong literary works, and the manuscripts of famous Hong Kong and Chinese writers, such as Liu Yichang, Xi Xi, Yu Kwang-chung, Xiao Jun, Xiao Hong, and Lü Lun. The Chinese University of Hong Kong will hold an exhibition, “Archiving Hong Kong Literature: The Twentieth Anniversary of the Hong Kong Literature Collection at CUHK Library,” from 28 June to 30 December to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the establishment of the archive.
Due to recent political developments in Hong Kong, there is a general anxiety over shrinking freedom in the city, prompting more people to leave and find new homes overseas. To broadly explore the idea of “Departures,” local bilingual publication Voice and Verse Poetry Magazine is calling for submissions to the English section of its forthcoming issue on the theme. Meanwhile, Hong Kong-based independent publisher Proverse Hong Kong is also accepting submissions for its annual international Proverse Prize in unpublished book-length non-fiction, fiction, or poetry in English.
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