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, essays, and round ups:

Manchu Princess, Japanese Spy: The Story of Kawashima Yoshiko, the Cross-Dressing Spy Who Commanded Her Own Army by Phyllis Birnbaum reviewed by Stephen Joyce
Hunters in the Dark by Lawrence Osborne reviewed byTim Hannigan
Beatson’s Mutiny: The Turbulent Career of a Victorian Soldier by Richard Stevenson reviewed by Nigel Collett
The Tusk That Did The Damage by Tania James reviewed by Agnes Bun

Q & A: Jemimah Steinfeld

Asia House, in London, is a non-profit, non-political organisation that promotes the exchange of ideas between the diverse communities of Europe and Asia. Each May it hosts The Asia House Bagri Foundation Literature Festival which features some of the best in literature with specifically Asian interest. For the first time this year Jemimah Steinfeld was Festival Manager – she is also the author of Little Emperors and Material Girls: Sex and Youth in Modern China.  I asked her to reflect on this year’s recently-concluded Festival.

This Week in Asian Review of Books

Asian Books Blog is not a review site. If you want reviews, see the Asian Review of Books. Here is a list of its newest reviews, excerpts, essays, bibliographies, and round ups:

The Last Unicorn: A Search for One of Earth’s Rarest Creatures by William de Buys reviewed by Jame DiBasio
Outside reading: links to essays on Eileen Chang, Laszlo Krasznahorkai and agenting in China 
Rejection Proof: How I Beat Fear and Became Invincible Through 100 Days of Rejection by Jia Jiang reviewed by Jill Baker
India and its history: a bibliography 
Japan and the Shackles of the Past by R Taggart Murphy reviewed by Glyn Ford

The Sunday Post

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

Sonny Liew: update

As discussed in the previous post, I recently met Edmund Wee, at the Asian Festival of Children’s Content. Edmund’s company, Epigram is graphic-novelist Sonny Liew’s Singapore publisher.  As reported last week, the government here recently withdrew a grant of SGD 8,000 for Sonny’s latest offering, The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye, over objections to the content. Edmund told me that as a result of the controversy, The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye has become Epigram’s fastest selling book ever, and that the first print-run sold out in a week. He is now reprinting.

Quick Notice: Nine Cuts, short stories by Audrey Chin

Singaporean author Audrey Chin’s latest anthology includes stories about: the beating heart of a cannibal picking up a ghoul at a local market in the City-State; a Vietnamese–American grieving in Alaska; a sister’s love for her brother, and his dragon fish; a wealthy teenager coming to grips with her Catholic grandfather’s legacy...and much more. Using a cookery analogy, Audrey says the collection offers: “Poignant slices of heart - tender, done and spoiled.” 

Nine Cuts is to be published in paperback, by Singaporean publishing house, Math Paper Press, which focusses on poetry, new wave novellas, full-length novels, and essays. Final proofs are about to be sent to the printers, but here is a sneak peak of the cover.

Taslima Nasreen

Following the spate of murders of bloggers in Bangladesh, the outspoken secularist Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen has moved to the US from India, where she'd been living in exile. She felt she was not safe in India, since she’d been getting death threats from the same Muslim extremists who killed the bloggers. Lend your support by following her on Twitter, here.

Blog Spot

Do you run a blog you think may be of interest to readers of Asian Books Blog?  If so, get in touch, preferably via e-mail - asianbooksblog@gmail.com - because I want to include a weekly blog spot in The Sunday Post. The idea is to invite administrators of relevant and interesting-sounding blogs to write a paragraph about their blog, to be posted in the blog spot.

Seen Elsewhere

Malaysian pulp fiction has been attracting a lot of attention. Click here for a report from The New York Times, and here, for coverage from Publishing Perspectives.

*A rojak is a Singaporean salad. Like Asian Books Blog on Facebook, or follow it on Twitter: @asianbooksblog

Lion City Lit: Edmund Wee, Epigram Books

Asian Books Blog is based in Singapore. Lion City Lit explores what’s going on in the City-State, lit-wise.  This month, I meet Edmund Wee, the founder, publisher, and CEO of Epigram Books, one of Singapore’s largest general trade publishing houses.

500 Words From Melissa de Villiers

500 Words From...is a series of guest posts from authors, in which they talk about their recently published books. Here, Melissa de Villiers, a South African expat now living in Singapore, discusses The Chameleon House, her newly published collection of short stories set in post-apartheid South Africa, London and Singapore. The Chameleon House has been longlisted for the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award 2015.

So, over to Melissa…

Just Quickly...

My recent interview with Xinran for Asian Review of Books was picked up by Caixin, click here.

This Week in Asian Review of Books

Asian Books Blog is not a review site. If you want reviews, see the Asian Review of Books. Here is a list of its newest reviews, excerpts, essays, and round ups:

A Burmese Heart excerpt by Tinsa Maw-Naing and YMV Han  
Climate Change Governance in Chinese Cities by Qianqing Mai and Maria Francesch-Huidobro reviewed by Mark L. Clifford
Revising US Grand Strategy Towards China by Ashley Tellis and Robert D Blackwell reviewed by Kerry Brown
The Eagle and the Dragon: Globalization and European Dreams of Conquest in China and America in the Sixteenth Century by Serge Gruzinski reviewed by Juan José Morales

The Sunday Post

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

Can Xue Takes Prize 

The eighth annual Best Translated Book Awards (BTBA) were announced at BookExpo America last week, with Can Xue’s The Last Lover, translated from the Chinese by Annelise Finegan Wasmoen, published by Yale University Press, taking home the award for fiction.

Indie Spotlight: Fran Pickering

Indie Spotlight is our monthly column on self-publishing. This month Raelee Chapman speaks to Fran Pickering the indie author of the popular Josie Clark East-West fusion murder mysteries. Josie is an English expat sleuth living in Tokyo where these mysteries are set.

China is Guest of Honour at BookExpo America's Global Market Forum

BookExpo America, (BEA) North America’s foremost publishing event featuring the latest in print and digital book publishing began yesterday, May 27, in New York.

China is the guest of honour for the global market forum part of the conference. The country has sent along a high ranking delegation of top publishing professionals, internationally acclaimed authors, and senior government officials in an effort to widen and deepen the cultural and business ties between the world’s two largest publishing markets.  “This is the most significant foreign delegation that we have ever hosted at America’s largest publishing convention”, said Steven Rosato, BEA’s Show Director.  "We are honoured to welcome China and we look forward to making this a rewarding experience for everyone involved."

Interview with Xinran

I recently interviewed Xinran, for Asian Review of Books. See here: China’s One-Child Policy: an Interview With Xinran by Rosie Milne.

This Week in Asian Review of Books

Asian Books Blog is not a review site. If you want reviews, see the Asian Review of Books. Here is a list of its newest reviews, essays, and round ups:

China’s One-Child Policy: an Interview With Xinran byRosie Milne
The First Firangis: Remarkable Stories of Heroes, Healers, Charlatans, Courtesans and Other Foreigners who Became Indian by Jonathan Gil Harris reviewed by John Butler
England’s Yellow Peril: Sinophobia and the Great Warby Anne Witchard reviewed by Jonathan Chatwin

The Sunday Post

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

Mao Dun Literature Prize

The Mao Dun Literary Prize (茅盾文学奖) is awarded every four years by the Chinese Writers Association. Any novel written by a Chinese national, published in mainland China, and with over 130,000 characters is eligible. If you read Chinese, click here for the full list of this year's contenders - 252 in all.  None of  the titles in contention has yet been translated into English.   For analysis in English from China literary expert Bruce Humes, click here.

Governments Make Bad Editors

PEN America has just released a report Censorship and Conscience: Foreign Authors and the Challenge of Chinese Censorship.  For full details click here. 

Indonesian Women and Local Politics: Islam, Gender and Networks in Post-Suharto Indonesia by Kurniawati Hastuti Dewi

In an important social change, female Muslim political leaders in Java have enjoyed considerable success in direct local elections following the fall of Suharto in Indonesia. Newly-published Indonesian Women and Local Politics shows that Islam, gender and social networks have been decisive in their political victories. Islamic ideas concerning female leadership provide a strong religious foundation for their political campaigns. However, their approach to women's issues shows that female leaders do not necessarily adopt a female perspective when formulating policies. This new trend of Muslim women in politics will continue to shape the growth and direction of democratisation in local politics in post-Suharto Indonesia and will colour future discourse on gender, politics and Islam in contemporary Southeast Asia.

Kurniawati Hastuti Dewi is senior researcher at the Research Center for Politics, Indonesian Institute of Sciences in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Published by NUS Press, Singapore, in paperback, USD34

*A rojak is a Singaporean salad. Like Asian Books Blog on Facebook, or follow it on Twitter: @asianbooksblog

International writers call for justice for bloggers murdered in Bangladesh

More than 150 writers from around the world, including Margaret Atwood, Amitav Ghosh, Karl Ove Knausgaard, Yann Martel, Salman Rushdie and Colm Tóibín have condemned the murders of Ananta Bijoy Das (or Dash), Washiqur Rahman Babu and Avijit Roy, three secular bloggers who have been brutally killed in Bangladesh this year. 

The group includes writers, publishers and lawyers who have joined PEN International and English PEN in calling on Bangladeshi Prime Minister Hasina Wajed and her government to do all in their power to ensure that the tragic events of the last three months are not repeated and to bring the perpetrators to justice.

The letter, signed by PEN members across the globe, states:

We were shocked and horrified by last week’s murder of 32-year-old blogger and editor Ananta Bijoy Das, who was hacked to death on his way to work by a masked gang wielding machetes in the city of Sylhet on 12 May. Prior to his death, Ananta Bijoy Das had reportedly received a number of death threats from Islamist militants, and his name had appeared in two assassination lists published in the Bangladeshi media, alongside those of other secular bloggers described as anti-Islamic and blasphemous.

Less than two months earlier, on 26 February, fellow blogger and close friend of Ananta Bijoy Das, Avijit Roy was similarly brutally killed. Roy and his wife Rafida Ahmed Bonya, were viciously attacked by unknown assailants close to the Dhaka University campus. Roy died soon afterwards whilst Rafida Ahmed Bonya was severely injured. A militant Islamist group has reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack.

A month later, on 29 March, blogger Washiqur Rahman Babu was murdered just 500 yards from his home in Begunbari, Dhaka. Police have claimed that the attackers targeted the 27-year-old blogger because they believed he had defamed Islam through his writings on websites, forums and social media. Two students from a madrassa (an Islamic school) have since been arrested in connection with Rahman’s killing.

At least three other writers have been attacked or murdered in Bangladesh since 2013 and, although there have been several arrests, no one has been held to account for any of these attacks. We are gravely concerned by this escalating pattern of violence against writers and journalists who are peacefully expressing their views. Freedom of expression is a fundamental right under Bangladesh’s constitution as well as one of the rights under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The authors have called on the Bangladeshi authorities to investigate Ananta Bijoy Das’s death swiftly and impartially as well as the murders of Avijit Roy and Washiqur Rahman Babu, and ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice in accordance with international fair trial standards. They also demand that the authorities do all in their power to provide protection and support to bloggers and other writers at risk in Bangladesh, in accordance with Bangladesh’s obligations under national and international law.

Jo Glanville, Director of English PEN, said:

‘This is a campaign of violence against bloggers and writers who are courageous enough to speak out in a hostile culture for free speech. The government of Bangladesh must urgently address the climate of impunity and be seen to safeguard freedom of expression. These shocking events have united writers throughout the world in an important show of solidarity.’

John Ralston Saul, President of PEN International, said:

‘Since my time in Dhaka late last year, I have seen the situation slip steadily downhill. The government, and the Prime Minister in particular, have the responsibility and the ethical obligation to stop this violence and to ensure that Bangladesh meets acceptable standards of both democracy and the rule of law, which are needed to protect the citizens' right to free expression.’

The winner of the 2015 Ondaatje Prize is...

Justin Marozzi has won the 2015 Ondaatje Prize for a book evoking the spirit of place with Baghdad: City of Peace, City of Blood (Allen Lane).

For the announcement from the Prize's administrator, The UK-based Royal Society of Literature, click here.


Some reviews, all from UK-based publications:
The Independent
The Telegraph
The Spectator
The Guardian

The winner of the 2015 Man Booker International Prize is...

László Krasznahorkai, the innovative Hungarian author, has just been announced as the winner of this year's Man Booker International Prize.

For the official announcement click here.

This Week in Asian Review of Books

Asian Books Blog is not a review site. If you want reviews, see the Asian Review of Books. Here is a list of its newest reviews and round ups:

This is How it Really Sounds by Stuart Archer Cohen reviewed by Melanie Ho
Outside reading: links to essays and articles on Eileen Chang, Orhan Pamuk, Asian literature selected by Peter Gordon
Review round up: The Tears of the Rajas: Mutiny, Money and Marriage in India 1805-1905 by Ferdinand Mount 
Oriental Traits in Leonardo da Vinci’s Work by Angelo Paratico (excerpt)
The Bamboo Stalk by Saud Alsanousi, translated from Arabic by Jonathan Wright reviewed by Peter Gordon
ARB reviews of Buzzfeed’s "32 Essential Asian-American Writers You Need To Be Reading" 
Chander and Sudha by Dharamvir Bharati, translated by Poonam Saxena reviewed by Jane Wallace

The Sunday Post

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

Flood of Fire

Flood of Fire, by Amitav Ghosh, book 3 in his Ibis trilogy, which explores the opium wars mainly from British and Indian perspectives, has already been getting plenty of coverage, although it is not published until May 28. Click here for a review in the Independent, UK, and here for one from The Financial Times, UK. Amitav Ghosh is on the shortlist for the International Man Booker Prize, 2015. The winner will be announced this Tuesday, May 19. Click here for interviews with all the finalists, from the Guardian, UK

Note from Tokyo Writers
This from John Gribble, of Tokyo Writers: "Here is a small reminding nudge. We have two more weekends to submit proposals for the Japan Writers Conference in Kobe in October. What would you like to talk about?" For guidelines click here.

Sydney Writers Festival
The Sydney Writers Festival starts tomorrow, Monday, May 18.  If anybody is going, and would like to write up events for Asian Books Blog, please get in touch (NB, no payment). Follow the links below for Facebook and Twitter, or e-mail: asianbooksblog@gmail.com. Thanks, and here's hoping!! 

Seen Elsewhere

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: 'Fear of causing offence becomes a fetish', the Guardian, UK

This Divided Island: Stories from the Sri Lankan War by Samanth Subramanian, reviewed by Amit Chaudhuri: An account of the civil war in Sri Lanka and its aftermath is all the more devastating for withholding judgement, the Guardian, UK

*A rojak is a Singaporean salad. Like Asian Books Blog on Facebook, or follow it on Twitter: @asianbooksblog

All About Eastlit / Graham Lawrence

Eastlit is an English-language online journal and website focused on creative writing and art specifically from or connected to East and South East Asia, including Siberia and Mongolia. The editors now also offer an electronic supplement covering South Asia: Southlit. British expat Graham Lawrence, a writer, teacher and publisher, is one of the co-founders of Eastlit.  His own writing includes the eBooks Broken Lines, a collection of tales, including autobiographical ones, that meander from London to South East Asia, and Tales from the Village, a collection of simple stories told to Graham, or else based on incidents witnessed by him, or actually involving him, on his Asian travels.  Graham, a Brit married to a Thai woman, is a long-term resident of Thailand. He gave Asian Books Blog an interview, via e-mail.