A rojak* of items that caught my eye this week…
Read Paper Republic and UK
University – Translation Competition
Leeds University, in the UK, and Read Paper Republic, are jointly running the 2016 Bai Meigui Translation Competition. Free
to enter, it is open to anyone, from any country, with an interest in
Chinese-English translation. Between
18th June 2015 and 16th June 2016, Read Paper Republic is publishing a complete
free-to-view series of short stories, essays, and poems by contemporary Chinese writers - one
per week for a year, 52 in total. The winning translation will be published as
part of this series. The deadline for entry is 29th February, 2016 and the judges are Dave Haysom,
Nicky Harman and Helen Wang. The competition text, a piece of reportage, is by
Li Jingrui (李静睿). A journalist for eight years, Li Jingrui writes a column in the Chinese edition of The Wall Street Journal, and she also publishes short fiction. One of her stories, Missing, translated by Helen
Wang, featured as number 8 in the Read Paper Republic series.
Quick Notice - A Brief History of
Indonesia: Sultans, Spices, and Tsunamis: The Incredible Story of Southeast
Asia's Largest Nation by Tim Hannigan
About the book: Indonesia is by
far the largest country in Southeast Asia and the fourth most populous in the
world after the United States. It is also the world’s largest Muslim majority
nation, a land of incredible diversity and unending paradoxes with a rich
history stretching back thousands of years. A
Brief History of Indonesia takes the reader from the pre-Islamic Hindu-Buddhist years in Java, to the later arrival of
Islam in the archipelago, to the Second World War, to the post-war New Order years,
to the separation of East Timor from Indonesia at the start of the twenty-first
century. This is a gripping narrative of kings, traders, missionaries, soldiers
and revolutionaries, featuring stormy sea crossings, fiery volcanoes, and the
occasional tiger. If you want an entertaining introduction to one of Asia’s
more colourful countries, with a complex history and a wealth of unique
cultural traditions, then this is the perfect read.
About the author: Tim Hannigan is
a British author and journalist. He has previously written about Indonesia in Raffles and the British Invasion of Java
(Monsoon Books, 2012). His features and travel articles appear regularly in
newspapers and magazines in the UK, Indonesia and beyond. Tim will soon be
contributing to our series 500 Words From… Keep an eye out for his guest
post!
Details: A Brief History of
Indonesia is published in paperback by Tuttle, priced in local currencies.
Blog Spot
Each week I invite the
administrator of a relevant and interesting-sounding blog to write a paragraph
explaining why readers of Asian Books Blog should take a look at his or her
site. This week much-anthologised, Singapore-based author Damyanti Biswas writes about her blog,
Daily (W)rite, which explores her daily ritual of writing.
Daily (W)rite started off as a venue for daily writing practice. As I
progressed with my fiction, it has now become a place to bounce off ideas on
writing and blogging with bloggers, authors, and publishing professionals.
Besides this, I also muse on topics that hold my interest: compassion, death, redemption,
travelling (body, mind, and soul), and the curious affliction that is our human
condition. My audience offers opinions and insight, so the blog has become a
community in itself.
Do you run a
blog you think may be of interest to readers of Asian Books Blog, and which you’d
like to see featured here? If so, get in touch, preferably via e-mail - asianbooksblog@gmail.com. Thanks.
Twitter Spot
Each week I make a suggestion of
an interesting Twitter account you may like to follow. This week, William Dalrymple, @DalrympleWill. William Dalrymple is the
bestselling author of In Xanadu, City of
Djinns, From the Holy Mountain, The Age of Kali, White Mughals, The Last Mughal, Nine Lives, and, most recently, Return
of a King, The Battle for Afghanistan.
*A rojak is a Singaporean salad. Like Asian Books Blog on Facebook, or follow it
on Twitter: @asianbooksblog
