The Sunday Post

A rojak* of items that caught my eye this week…

500 Words From Tim Hannigan

500 Words From...is a series of guest posts from authors writing about Asia, published by Asia-based, or Asia-focussed, publishing houses, in which they talk about their latest books. Here UK-based Tim Hannigan talks about A Brief History of Indonesia: Sultans, Spices, and Tsunamis: The Incredible Story of Southeast Asia's Largest Nation, published by Tuttle, a company specialising in books that build bridges between East and West.

This Week in Asian Review of Books

See the Asian Review of Books for ever-interesting discussion. Here are links to its newest reviews, excerpts, letters, essays, listings, translations, news items, and round ups:

God is the Light of the Heavens and the Earth: Light in Islamic Art and Culture, edited by Jonathan Bloom and Sheila Blair reviewed by Peter Gordon
New fiction: Yan Geling’s Disappointing Returns by Dave Haysom
Emerging from the cocoon: literary culture in Myanmar by Ellen Wiles
Seahorse by Janice Pariat reviewed by Jane Wallace

The Sunday Post

A rojak* of items that caught my eye this week…

Published Today: Little Aunt Crane by Geling Yan

About the book: In the last days of World War Two, the Japanese occupation of Manchuria has collapsed. As the Chinese move in, the elders of the Japanese settler village of Sakito decide to preserve their honour by killing all the villagers in an act of mass suicide. Only 16-year-old Tatsuru escapes. But Tatsuru’s trials have just begun, and she falls into the hands of human traffickers. She is sold to a wealthy Chinese family, where she becomes Duohe – the clandestine second wife to their only son, and the secret bearer of his children. Against all odds, Duohe and the first wife Xiaohuan put aside their differences and form an unlikely friendship, united by the unshakeable bonds of motherhood and family. Spanning several tumultuous decades of Mao’s rule, Little Aunt Crane is a novel about love, overcoming adversity, and how humanity endures in the most unlikely of circumstances.

500 Words From Kalyan Lahiri

500 Words From...is a series of guest posts from Asia-based authors published by Asia-based, or Asia-focussed, publishing houses, in which they talk about their latest books. Here Kolkata-native Kalyan Lahiri, talks about his debut novel, The Kolkata Conundrum, which introduces detective Orko Deb. It is published by Hong Kong-based Crime WavePress.

This Week in Asian Review of Books

See the Asian Review of Books for ever-interesting discussion. Here are links to its newest reviews, excerpts, letters, essays, listings, news items, and round ups:

November 19: Launch of Eight Hong Kong Poets and latest ARB Quarterly a listing of interest to readers in Hong Kong
Outside reading: links to essays and articles on books, politics and culture 
China 1945: Mao’s Revolution and America’s Fateful Choice by Richard Bernstein reviewed by Tim O’Connell
The Tsar of Love and Techno: Stories by Anthony Marra reviewed by Peter Gordon

The Sunday Post

A rojak* of items that caught my eye this week…

Just Quickly...

Click here for a very nice piece by Elizabeth Roberts, about my novel Olivia & Sophia, from the UK Telegraph.

Indie Spotlight:John Hudspith

Indie Spotlight is our monthly column on self-publishing. This month our regular columnist, Siobhan Daiko, who is herself an indie author, interviews her UK-based editor, John Hudspith, about his work.

As well as editing manuscripts, John also offers advice on such topics as overcoming writer’s block, creating an epic, and the eBook eruption - he is a one-man, one-stop service for indie authors wherever they live.  Meanwhile, he too is an indie author. His first novel, Kimi's Secret won a highly coveted YouWriteOn book of the year award in 2013. The second novel in his Kimi series, Kimi’s Fear, is out now.

Sue Guiney: Philanthropist And Author

Sue Guiney is the British-based American founder of Writing Through, a charity working with children in Cambodia to promote conceptual thought and self-esteem, through the teaching of creative writing. Instruction is in English, so classes also help students develop fluency in a language that opens doors otherwise closed to them.  

Sue is also a poet, and a novelist.  Her novels explore modern-day Cambodia.  I met her in Singapore, to discuss both her philanthropy, and her writing.

Just Quickly...

William L.Gibson, author of Singapore Yellow, the second novel in his Detective Hawksworth Trilogy, has written his own account of our recent shared book launch, you can check out his version here.

This Week in Asian Review of Books

See the Asian Review of Books for ever-interesting discussion. Here is a list of its newest reviews, excerpts, letters, links, essays, and round ups:

Do You Live In?, poetry by Shirley Geok-lin Lim reviewed by Jennifer Wong
Second opinions: links to reviews of fiction and non-fiction we’ve covered 
Letter from Singapore: a snapshot of SE Asian publishing by Rosie Milne
Blood, Dreams and Gold: The Changing Face of Burma by Richard Cockett reviewed by Peter Gordon
Deng Xiaoping: A Revolutionary Life by Alexander V Pantsov and Steven I Levine reviewed by Jonathan Chatwin

Happy Deepavali

From Asian Books Blog!

Final Day: Singapore Writers Festival

Asian Books Blog is based in Singapore. During the Singapore Writers Festival, (SWF) which finished yesterday, daily posts offered a flavour of events in the Lion City.

So: the final day...

Day 9: Singapore Writers Festival

Asian Books Blog is based in Singapore. During the Singapore Writers Festival, (SWF) which is on now, and runs through until November 8, daily posts will offer a flavour of events in the Lion City.

So: Day 9...

Day 8: Singapore Writers Festival

Asian Books Blog is based in Singapore. During the Singapore Writers Festival, (SWF) which is on now, and runs through until November 8, daily posts will offer a flavour of events in the Lion City.

So: Day 8...

Day 7: Singapore Writers Festival

Asian Books Blog is based in Singapore. During the Singapore Writers Festival, (SWF) which is on now, and runs through until November 8, daily posts will offer a flavour of events in the Lion City.

So: Day 7...

Day 6: Singapore Writers Festival

Asian Books Blog is based in Singapore. During the Singapore Writers Festival, (SWF) which is on now, and runs through until November 8, daily posts will offer a flavour of events in the Lion City.

So: Day 6...

Day 5: Singapore Writers Festival

Asian Books Blog is based in Singapore. During the Singapore Writers Festival, (SWF) which is on now, and runs through until November 8, daily posts will offer a flavour of events in the Lion City.

So: Day 5...

Day 4: Announcing Singapore / Frankfurt Tie-up

Asian Books Blog is based in Singapore. During the Singapore Writers Festival, (SWF) which is on now, and runs through until November 8, daily posts will offer a flavour of events in the Lion City.

So: Day 4...

APWT Manila Conference / Jane Camens

This has been a busy few weeks in the Asian literary calendar, with a variety of events on offer. See, for example, recent posts on the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival, and the Hong Kong International Literary Festival, as well as the on-going series from the Singapore Writers Festival. Furthermore, the region’s literary network, Asia Pacific Writers and Translators, which is currently based in Hong Kong, but which is soon to move its headquarters to Brisbane, held its eighth annual conference in Manila, from 22 – 25 October.  Here Jane Camens, co-founder and Executive Director, Asia Pacific Writers and Translators, gives an account of proceedings.

This Week in Asian Review of Books

See the Asian Review of Books for ever-interesting discussion. Here is a list of its newest reviews, excerpts, letters, essays, and round ups:

Letter from Singapore: Opening of the Writers Festival by Rosie Milne
Last War of the World-Island: The Geopolitics of Contemporary Russia by Alexander Dugin reviewed by Francis P Sempa

Links to essays on Asian books and writing 
A Brief History of Indonesia; Sultans, Spices, and Tsunamis: The Incredible Story of Southeast Asia’s Largest Nation by Tim Hannigan reviewed by Stephen Joyce
Asia’s New Battlefield: The USA, China, and the Struggle for the Western Pacific by Richard Javad Heydarian reviewed by Salvatore Babones

Day 3: Singapore Writers Festival

Asian Books Blog is based in Singapore. During the Singapore Writers Festival, (SWF) which is on now, and runs through until November 8, daily posts will offer a flavour of events in the Lion City.

So: Day 3...

The Sunday Post / Secular Publisher Hacked To Death In Bangladesh

The Sunday Post is suspended this week, because of the Singapore Writers Festival, but one calamity must be reported.

There is again horrible news from Bangladesh, where four atheist bloggers have been murdered over the past few months: Islamist extremists have hacked to death one publisher of secular books,  Faisal Arefin Deepan, and attacked another one, landing him in hospital. Two writers were also attacked. 

You will be able to find plenty of coverage on the internet, and through social media, but here are some places to start:

The Daily Star (Bangladesh) - under the headline free thinking mauled once again.

PEN, the international free speech advocacy group, this is the response from the American branch. 

The Guardian (UK)

Al Jazeera (Qatar) 

The Hindu (India)

Day 2: Singapore Writers Festival

Asian Books Blog is based in Singapore. During the Singapore Writers Festival, (SWF) which is on now, and runs through until November 8, daily posts will offer a flavour of events in the Lion City.

So: Day 2 ...

I evidently managed to miss Stories From Islands, Songs From Islanders 1, but I did catch Stories From Islands, Songs From Islanders 2. This brought together 5 authors, from geographically widely separated islands, to explore what, if anything, is unique about literature from islands. Does it reveal a sense of isolation? A strong sense of identity? Or what?