This week in Asian Review of Books

See the Asian Review of Books for ever-interesting discussion. Here are links to its newest reviews, excerpts, letters, essays, listings, translations, news items, and round ups:

Anuradha Roy wins DSC Prize for Sleeping on Jupiter 
Tobacco in China: an excerpt from A Token of Elegance: Cigarette Holders in Vogue 
Right Concept, Wrong Country: Tianming and Tianxia in International Relations by Salvatore Babones
Steep Tea, poetry by Jee Leong Koh reviewed by Jennifer Wong
Hong Kong-born poet Sarah Howe wins TS Eliot prize 
ARB Quarterly for January 2016

The Sunday Post

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

Just quickly...

You may be interested in one or other of these pieces, which I've had published this week:

Review of Little Aunt Crane by Geling Yan / Yan Geling for Asian Review of Books

Interview with Elisabeth Koch, a milliner in Beijing, for the UK Telegraph

My weekly blog about life in Singapore for the UK Telegraph

500 words from Ann Bennett

500 words from...is a series of guest posts from authors writing about Asia, and published by Asia-based, or Asia-focussed, publishing houses, in which they talk about their latest books. Here Ann Bennett writes about Bamboo Island, the second book in her World War II South East Asian trilogy.  Last year, in the Year of the Horse, the first book, Bamboo Heart, won the inaugural Asian Books Blog Book of the Lunar New Year. The trilogy is published by Monsoon, a company specialising in books that open windows onto South East Asian history.

So: over to Ann…

Catch-up: Asian Review of Books

Asian Review of Books kept up the flow of interesting material whilst Asian Books Blog was closed for Christmas and the Western New Year. Here are links to three weeks' worth of reviews, excerpts, letters, essays, listings, translations, news items, and round ups. 

All Monsters Must Die: An Excursion to North Korea by Magnus Bartas and Fredrik Ekman reviewed by Thomas London
Hong Kong-born poet Sarah Howe wins young writer of the year award 
Outside reading: links to interviews, essays and articles on translation, prizes, history, China 
Opera: Il Trovatore, Musica Viva, Hong Kong reviewed by Peter Gordon
China’s Disruptors: How Alibaba, Xiaomi, Tencent, and Other Companies are Changing the Rules of Business by Edward Tse reviewed by John D. Van Fleet

A tenor in Magadan: Vadim Kozin and Kseniya Melnik’s Snow in May posted by Peter Gordon
JFK’s Forgotten Crisis: Tibet, the CIA, and the Sino-Indian War by Bruce Riedel reviewed by Glyn Ford
Cosmopolites: The Coming of the Global Citizen by Atossia Araxia Abrahamian reviewed by Nicholas Gordon
Three Centuries of Conflict in East Timor by Douglas Kammen reviewed by Peter Gordon

Jade Dragon Mountain by Elsa Hart reviewed by Jonathan Chatwin
Outside reading: links to essays and news on books and writing from Japan, India, China, Israel 
The Age of Trade: The Manila Galleons and the Dawn of the Global Economy by Arturo Giraldez reviewed by Juan José Morales
The Gunpowder Age: China, Military Innovation, and the Rise of the West in World Historyby Tonio Andrade reviewed by Francis P Sempa

Little Aunt Crane by Yan Geling, translated from Chinese by Esther Tyldesley reviewed byRosie Milne
ARB Quarterly for January 2016 
Little Rice: Smartphones, Xiaomi, and the Chinese Dream by Clay Shirky reviewed byStephen Maire
Points of Origin, stories by Diao Dou, translated by Brendan O'Kane reviewed by Peter Gordon

The Asian Books Blog Book of the Lunar Year

Asian Books Blog runs its own literary award: The Asian Books Blog Book of the Lunar Year. The winner, for the Year of the Ram / Goat, now drawing to a close, will be announced on February 7, Chinese New Year’s Eve for the upcoming Year of the Monkey. 

Closing for Christmas

Merry Christmas! Merry reading! 
Best wishes for 2016!

The blog is closed from today, Monday 21 December, until Tuesday 12 January, when we'll be back with details of the Asian Books Blog Book of the Lunar Year Award, for the Year of the Sheep / Goat / Deer.

The Sunday Post

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

Tales of Two Cities: Hong Kong and Singapore

Tales of Two Cities: An Anthology of Short Stories by the Hong Kong Writers Circle, and the Singapore Writers Group presents four faces of each city: the changing city; the historic city; the mystical city; the capricious city.  There are twenty three stories in the collection, which has been co-edited by Alice Clark-Platts, and S. Micky Lin, from the Singapore Writers Group, and Edmund Price and Harmony Sin, from the Hong Kong Writers Circle.  Here, Alice Clark-Platts gives a glimpse of how the collaboration worked.

Indie spotlight: Christmas marketing opportunities

Indie spotlight is our monthly column on self-publishing. This month our regular columnist, Siobhan Daiko, who is herself an indie author, explains how Christmas presents many marketing opportunities, to those with a book to sell.

Just quickly

I wrote an account of viewing snow in Singapore, for the UK Telegraph. If you're interested, click here.

The Sunday Post

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

Lion City Lit: Swag

Asian Books Blog is based in Singapore. Lion City Lit explores what’s going on in the City-State, lit-wise. Here Jo Furniss introduces Swag, the new online literary magazine she's launching. Its events calendar,  which brings all relevant listings together in one convenient place, is already live, and is packed with ideas. From January, the quarterly journal will feature author interviews and new writing.

So: over to Jo…

Just quickly

My weekly blog from Singapore for the UK Telegraph is here, if you're interested.

This week in Asian Review of Books

See the Asian Review of Books for ever-interesting discussion. Here are links to its newest reviews, excerpts, letters, essays, listings, translations, news items, and round ups:

Shadow Cold War: The Sino-Soviet Competition for the Third World by Jeremy Friedman reviewed by Francis P Sempa
Asian books among the Economist’s best of the year, and ARB reviews 
Staging Corruption: Chinese Television and Politics by Ruoyun Bai reviewed by Coraline Goron
Outside reading: links to essays and articles on translations, children’s books, China, North Korea, Philippines 
The Great Wall in 50 Objects by William Lindesay reviewed by Peter Gordon
Frontiers Reimagined. Art that Connects Us: 44 Artists, 25 Countries by Sundaram Tagore and Marius Kwint (curators) reviewed by Juan Jose Morales

The Sunday Post

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

500 words from William L. Gibson

500 words from...is a series of guest posts from authors writing about Asia, published by Asia-based, or Asia-focussed, publishing houses, in which they talk about their latest books. Here Jakarta-based William L. Gibson talks about Singapore Yellow, volume two in his 19th century Detective Hawksworth trilogy, set in Singapore and Malaya – it kicked off with Singapore Black, and will conclude with Singapore Red. The trilogy is published by Monsoon, a company specialising in books that open windows onto south-east Asian history.

Just quickly...

I wrote an account of the amazing building housing Singapore's new National Gallery, for the UK Telegraph.  If you're interested, click here.

This Week in Asian Review of Books

See the Asian Review of Books for ever-interesting discussion. Here are links to its newest reviews, excerpts, letters, essays, listings, translations, news items, and round ups:

Asian books among the New York Times 100 Notable for 2015, and ARB reviews 
Conquerors: How Portugal Seized the Indian Ocean and Forged the First Global Empireby Roger Crowley reviewed by Jame DiBiasio
DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2016 shortlist and ARB reviews 
Muslim, Trader, Nomad, Spy: China’s Cold War and the People of the Tibetan Borderlands by Sulmaan Wasif Khan reviewed by Glyn Ford
Cathay: Ezra Pound’s Orient by Ira Nadel reviewed by Kerry Brown

The Sunday Post

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