500 words from Jeffrey Wasserstrom

500 words from...is a series of guest posts from authors writing about Asia, or published by Asia-based, or Asia-focused, publishing houses, in which they talk about their latest books. Jeffrey Wasserstrom is an American historian of modern China who teaches at the University of California, Irvine. He edited a fantastic new reference book, the Oxford Illustrated History of Modern China. Here he talks about selecting the illustrations.

Classics corner: A Pail of Oysters, by Vern Sneider

Asian Books Blog generally covers new books, but in this new series, classics corner, guest writers will introduce older titles you may like to read. Jonathan Benda kicks off the series by discussing A Pail of Oysters, by Vern Sneider

A day in the life of Michael Cannings

A day in the life of…is an occasional series in which people working in the publishing industry talk about their typical working day. Here, Michael Cannings, one of the founders of Camphor Press, a British-Taiwanese publishing house specialising in books about East Asia, in particular Taiwan, explains there is in fact no typical working day in his life…

Indie Spotlight: Marco Lobo

Indie Spotlight is Siobhan Daiko’s monthly column on self-publishing. This month she talks to indie author Marco Lobo.

Lion City Lit: Q & A with Eric Tinsay Valles,

Asian Books Blog is based in Singapore. Our regular column, Lion City Lit, explores in-depth what's happening in the City-State lit-wise. Here, Elissa Viornery interviews Eric Tinsay Valles, Festival Director of the National Poetry Festival (NPF). This will run from July 29 to 31 at the National Museum, Lasalle College of the Arts, and other venues. 

Guest post: Alec Ash

Beijing-based Alec Ash has just published Wish Lanterns: Young Lives in New China (Picador) a vivid account of young people in China – people born after Mao, with no memory of Tiananmen – seen through the lens of six millennials’ lives. Dahai is a military child and netizen; Fred is a daughter of the Party. Lucifer is an aspiring superstar; Snail a country migrant addicted to online games. Xiaoxiao is a hipster from the freezing north; Mia a rebel from Xinjiang in the far west. They are the offspring of the one-child policy, and they face fierce competition to succeed: pressure starts young; their road isn't easy. Through their stories, Wish Lanterns shows with empathy and insight the challenges and dreams that will define China's future – but at the same time their stories are those of young people all over the world. They are moving out of home, starting careers, falling in love...

Q & A: Xu Xi

Xu Xi 許素細  is the author of ten books, most recently the novels That Man In Our Lives (C&R Press, September 2016) and Habit of a Foreign Sky (Haven Books, 2010), a finalist for the Man Asian Literary Prize; the story collection Access Thirteen Tales (Signal 8 Press, 2011).  Forthcoming books include Interruptions (Hong Kong University Museum & Art Gallery, September, 2016), a collaborative ekphrastic essay collection in conversation with photography by David Clarke; a memoir Elegy for HK (Penguin China/Australia, 2017) and Insignificance: Stories of Hong Kong (Signal 8 Press, 2018).  She has also edited four anthologies of Hong Kong writing in English.  Since 2002, she has taught for low-residency MFA programs, including at Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA in Montpelier where she was elected and served as faculty chair, and at City University of Hong Kong where she was appointed Writer-in-Residence and founded and directed Asia’s first low-residency MFA.  From January to May, 2016, she was Distinguished Visiting Writer-in-Residence at Arizona State University’s Virginia G. Piper Center of Creative Writing.  She is also co-founder, with author Robin Hemley, of Authors At Large, offering international writing retreats and workshops.  A Chinese-Indonesian Hong Kong permanent resident and U.S. citizen, she currently lives between New York and Hong Kong.