Sunday 15 November 2015

The Sunday Post

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