Telling the Story of Hong Kong, by Will Hagle

Cultural Cross Sections Will Hagle Photo courtesy of the author Following decades of British colonial rule to the rapidly tightening grip of mainland China and all the stories told about that chunk of land along the way, Hong Kong has grown accustomed to outsiders imposing manufactured identities and narratives upon it. Any attempt to summarize—let alone explain—what has been happening on its city streets for five months and counting would be a uniquely modern form of cultural imperialism. That story would be best told by those who are there. I can only tell you about what I’ve learned, from where I am and where I’ve been. During the span of the 2019 anti-extradition law amendment protests, which have since evolved beyond opposing the bill that would have allowed for the extradition of certain arrested residents to mainland China, I have been to Hong Kong and back in my adopted hometown of Los Angeles, thinking about the fragile concept of location-based identity. What I’ve learned is this: if the true nature of a location can be grappled with, confronted, and preserved anywhere, it is in literature; and the literature of Hong Kong portrays a place as complex, vibrant, challenging, and politically unstable as current news dispatches would suggest. If the true nature of a location can be grappled with, confronted, and preserved anywhere, it is in literature; and the literature of Hong Kong portrays a place as complex, vibrant,... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'

[ World Literature Today | 2019-12-17 15:28:20 UTC ]
News tagged with: #multiple languages #late june #finished reading #news reports #government doesn #literary community

Other Publishing stories related to: 'Telling the Story of Hong Kong, by Will Hagle'


Held Hostage in Syria, a Reporter Tells What It Took to Survive

“Blindfold” is the American journalist Theo Padnos’s memoir of his nearly two years in captivity and a meditation on resilience. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-02-16 10:00:06 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #held hostage #memoir


Joan Didion’s ‘Let Me Tell You What I Mean’ shows a writer ahead of her time

Didion’s writing has often revealed what was previously hidden, parsed what was unconscious. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-02-09 13:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #joan didion


Chatto signs Edmund de Waal's 'extraordinary' Camondo story

Chatto & Windus has signed Letters to Camondo, an “extraordinary” book penned by Edmund de Waal during the first lockdown that tells the story of the Jewish Camondo family in Paris. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-07 20:38:23 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #chatto windus


The Stories That Bind Us Together: On E. Lily Yu’s “On Fragile Waves”

DURING ONE KEY MOMENT, E. Lily Yu’s disquieting debut novel On Fragile Waves offers a kind of authorial self-critique regarding the representation of diasporic migrants. A character Yu calls “the writer” has traveled to Australia to interview asylum seekers in the Afghan migrant community there... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books

[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2021-02-06 16:00:46 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #lily yu #fragile waves #key moment #debut novel


Read the American short stories George Saunders thinks will stand the test of time.

There’s so much contemporary fiction released every day, it’s hard to keep track—and it’s hard to know which works will still be remembered in a year and which will slip into obscurity. Luckily, we have George Saunders to guide us. In an interview with Los Angeles Review of Books, Saunders was... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2021-02-05 16:37:34 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #george saunders #short stories


Alice Oseman | 'It’s more of an episodic story, so I decided a comic would be a better format'

Nick and Charlie, the lead characters in graphic novel series Heartstopper, first appeared in Alice Oseman’s début Young Adult novel Solitaire. The pair were fairly minor characters, but almost as soon as she finished writing the book, she knew she wanted to expand on their story. “They have... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-05 10:51:49 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #alice oseman #lead characters #finished writing #graphic novel


Macmillan Learning Announces Winners of First Annual “Black History, Black Stories” Contest

The contest was created by Macmillan Learning "to elevate Black voices in education and in recognition of the fight for social justice inspired by the #BlackLivesMatter movement." Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-02-05 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #macmillan learning #macmillan


Hodder to publish the story behind the making of the Oxford vaccine

Hodder & Stoughton is publishing the inside story of the Oxford coronavirus vaccine written by two of the leading scientists who developed it, Professor Sarah Gilbert and Dr Catherine Green. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-03 06:00:52 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #hodder


Joan Didion commands the essay form in ‘Let Me Tell You What I Mean’

A collection of Didion's work showcases her evolution as a young writer and exhibits her preoccupation with understanding the world through writing. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2021-02-01 23:55:55 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #essay form #work showcases #young writer


Joan Didion commands the essay form in ‘Let Me Tell You What I Mean’

A collection of Didion's work showcases her evolution as a young writer and exhibits her preoccupation with understanding the world through writing. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2021-02-01 23:55:55 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #essay form #work showcases #young writer


The Books Briefing: 5 Short Stories to Read This Weekend

Exploring the diversity of The Atlantic’s original fiction: Your weekly guide to the best in books Continue reading at The Atlantic

[ The Atlantic | 2021-01-29 15:30:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #books briefing #original fiction #weekly guide #short stories


Sceptre bags 'sharp, timely, political story' from Banerjee

Sceptre has acquires What’s in a Name? by Sheela Banerjee, the story of 20th-century immigration to the UK told through names and what they say about belonging and heritage.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-28 16:52:59 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


22 Books That Helped Me Write the Story of My Transition

As a trans person, I spent most of my life with my head in a book imagining other lives, other bodies, and other histories. In some ways, my memoir is an amalgamation of all the books that kept me curious, kept me thinking it was worth it to keep going. Sometimes it was to dream […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2021-01-26 09:48:49 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #memoir


Burns Night: stories of adventure and anguish from the Scottish diaspora

The story of the Scottish diaspora has been well told in print. Now a new audio book brings emigrant stories to life in their own words. Continue reading at The Conversation

[ The Conversation | 2021-01-22 17:53:17 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #audio book


Oseman's boy-meets-boy love story greenlit for Netflix series

Netflix has greenlit a YA drama series produced by See-Saw Films based on Alice Oseman’s Young Adult graphic novel series Heartstopper, published by Hodder Children’s Books. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-20 20:54:50 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #netflix series #alice oseman #films based #graphic novel


Canongate acquires story collection from John Edgar Wideman

Canongate is to publish a set of stories from US writer John Edgar Wideman, 40 years after the author released his first collection.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-20 14:47:16 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Tokarczuk's first children's book to Seven Stories Press

Seven Stories Press UK will publish The Lost Soul, the first children's book by Polish author Olga Tokarczuk, translated into English by Antonia Lloyd-Jones and illustrated by Joanna Concejo.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-19 16:52:22 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #stories press #antonia lloyd-jones #joanna concejo #children's book


5 Must-Listen Short Story Collections on Audio

These beautifully narrated audiobook short story collections tell precise, polished tales about Black women, the fantastical, and more. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2021-01-19 11:30:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #black women #audiobook


Fairlight to publish debut short story collection from Lynda Clark

Fairlight Books has acquired world rights to Lynda Clark’s debut short story collection Dreaming in Quantum and Other Stories. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-19 04:48:26 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #fairlight books #lynda clark #world rights


Runcie, Mozley and Owusu judge BBC National Short Story Award

James Runcie will chair the judges for this year's BBC National Short Story Award alongside authors Fiona Mozley and Derek Owusu. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-13 22:24:54 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #derek owusu