This week, our editors are reporting on the intersection between literature and social movements. In Hong Kong, writers reflect on the June 4 protests at Tiananmen Square, in light of the continual tensions between China and the island. In Palestine, a new podcast features writers orienting their own work within the \ body of Palestinian literature. And in Kenya, the country mourns the loss of revolutionary playwright Micere Mugo.
Charlie Ng, Editor-at-Large, reporting from Hong Kong
Since the National Security Law in Hong Kong came into effect in June 2020, the annual candlelight vigil for commemorating the June Fourth Tiananmen Square protests have not been organized for four years; the event’s host, the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, was also dissolved in September 2021. Additionally, the event’s traditional venue, the Victoria Park in Causeway Bay, was under renovation and not available to be booked this year.
Although public commemoration was forbidden, remembrance could still be possible through writing; Cha: An Asian Literary Journal called for short submissions of reflections written about June 4, 2023—which could be directly, indirectly, or even not related to the event. The project, “Just Another Day”, also welcomed written works accompanied with photos or artwork. Fifty-four submissions were published on Cha’s blog, presenting a wide range of reflections from local and overseas writers. Translator Lucas Klein contemplates on the protest culture in Hong Kong and what he witnessed outside of the Victoria Park in his post, while Hong Kong poet Jennifer Wong contributed a prose poem on the importance of memory. Asymptote’s assistant editor of fiction Michelle Suen interweaves childhood nostalgia and postcolonial politics in her reflection, and I also tell a brief story of my personal experience of June Fourth over the years. Varied as they are, the texts testify to the unstoppable impact of the historical event, in both people’s mind and reality.
Meanwhile, as issue 72 of local bilingual poetry magazine, Voice & Verse, was just published, the magazine is organizing a reading session in collaboration with Cha, a crossover that echoes the issue’s English section theme: “Crossings”. The reading session will take place on July 12, hosted by Tammy Ho and Matthew Cheng. Local and international contributors to both journals have been invited to read their works.
Another significant literary event this month is the Hong Kong Book Fair, which will be held from July 19 to July 25 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai. The Book Fair has been a staple summer event since 1990, and the focus of this year is children’s and young adult Literature. The works and memorabilia of well-known local writers in the genre, including A Nong, Ho Tsz, Quenby Fung, Chau Mat-mat, Poon Ming-chu, and Poon Kam-ying, will be exhibited at the Art Gallery of the venue.
Carol Khoury, Editor-at-Large for Palestine and the Palestinians, reporting from Palestine
The “Country of Words” podcast, part of the PalREAD project, is a captivating Arabic-language series, comprising of ten episodes that delve into the realm of Palestinian literature. With a focus on the challenges posed by lost, looted, or destroyed archives, this podcast celebrates the power of oral literary history in bridging the gaps and compensating for the scarcity of documentation and records. It is run by Ibrahim Abdou and Refqa Abu-Remaileh, both based at the Freie Universität Berlin.
The podcast features esteemed guests who have played pivotal roles in the literary and cultural landscape. So far, the first six episodes, featuring the following list of guests, have been released: Liana Badr, Mahmoud Shukair, Asmaa Azaizeh, Faisal Darraj, Ghassan Zaqtan, Abed Abdi, Elias Khoury, Huzama Habayeb, Hadi Danyal, and Rajaa Ghanem.
In the published episodes, the interviewer changes. Most of interviews were conducted during the lockdown, and there are no set questions—although they generally cover the interviewee’s childhood, their perspectives on culture, their personal libraries, and most importantly, how books shaped their lives. Additionally, each guest carefully selects a text from their own body of work or the broader corpus of Palestinian literature, offering insights into their choices and highlighting influential works that have shaped the trajectory of Palestinian literary history.
While the production of the podcast is consistently well-executed (clean sound, nice music, well researched, etc.), the episodes vary in content and tone, remaining faithful the variant lives of each guest. For the duration of one hour, each writer takes the listener on a journey to their own life—be it in Palestine or in the diaspora, though always with Palestine always at the center.
Wambua Muindi, Editor-at-Large, reporting from Kenya
On June 5, James Murua, a popular Kenyan and Nairobi-based blogger among African literary and creative spaces, announced that the eponymously named JamesMurua.com—the go-to literary news, events and opportunities site for African and Black literature—has changed its name to WritingAfrica.com. Founded in 2013 as a committed and functional portal in the archival of black literature, the website has been part of the ‘invisible’ literary infrastructure that has continued to keep tabs on all forms of black writing across Africa and the diaspora in the digital age. According to an exchange with like-minded Brittle Paper and a statement on the new site, Murua acknowledged that whereas the name change was something he had envisioned, it came ahead of its time owing to wrangles with the website hosting company, which made the change imperative. Murua himself remains committed to the work of keeping visible the trends and development of anything literary.
On June 30, the life of Micere Mugo ended—hot on the heels of the demise of Auntie Ama Ata Aidoo. Her death arguably draws the curtain on some of the foundational matriarchs of African literary thought and history. Mugo, who not so long ago was honored by the University of Nairobi with an honorary doctorate, distinguished herself in the pursuit for social justice and academic freedom. To many she was a sister, friend, comrade, mother, teacher, revolutionary, and shujaa among other names, as embodied in her writings which speak to the diverse and venerated characterization that her life and person represented. The depth of her work and influence, of course, won’t fit in this dispatch as it transcended not only her identity, sense of justice, and revolutionary spirit but moved beyond Kenya and the continent, into the world. To borrow from Dylan Thomas, Micere raged against the dying of the light, and will undoubtedly continue to inspire generations to come.
*****
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