This week, our Editors-at-Large take us around the world for the latest in literary news. From the efforts of Filipino literati for Palestine, to Bulgaria’s reckoning with the swiftly changing modern world and insightful essays and reviews on Hong Kong literature in translation, read on to learn more!
Alton Melvar M Dapanas, Editor-at-Large, Reporting from the Philippines
On 9 October, 2025, the feminist Filipino indie publisher Gantala Press debuted another monumental anthology at the Fine Arts Gallery of the University of the Philippines Diliman. The book, titled ‘Pagkat Tayo Man ay May Sampaga: New Philippine Writing and Translation for a Free Palestine, unites a vast range of voices in solidarity with Palestinian liberation.
The anthology was released by Gantala Press’s imprint, Publikasyong Iglap, which specialises in publishing timely literary works that address pressing ethnopolitical issues. It was co-edited by the press’ founder, Faye Cura, with Joi Barrios of the University of California Berkeley and UP Diliman professors, essayist Sarah Raymundo and fictionist-critic Rolando B. Tolentino.
‘Pagkat Tayo Man ay May Sampaga includes original writings from Filipino authors, including Luisa Igloria, the former Poet Laureate of Virginia, and Filipino-language translations of works by Palestinian writers such as the late Refaat Alareer and Fady Joudah. Alongside these new writings and translations, the anthology spans in-depth essays examining socially engaged writing, translation, and the anti-imperialist movement, supplemented by a practical teaching guide.
The anthology is published as a contribution to the broader struggle. Gantala Press is among more than 160 Filipino writers, artists, small presses, and art collectives that have signed the statement, ‘Filipino Writers and Artists for the Freedom of Palestine: Boycott Frankfurt Book Fair’. The statement, written in both English and Filipino, strongly denounces the Zionist ethnostate’s genocide, settler-colonialism, and scholasticide against Palestine, pointing to the mass murders, artificial famine, and the obliteration of Palestinian culture, livelihood, and infrastructure.
These writers and artists particularly call out the Philippine government and the second Marcosian regime for its collaboration with Israel and its presence as the Guest of Honour at the 2025 Frankfurter Buchmesse. They contend that the government’s participation is a betrayal of the country’s anticolonial literary heritage and an approval of Zionism and its evils, especially since the FBM administration itself openly favours and platforms Israel.
The signatories call for an immediate and principled boycott of the FBM and other cultural institutions collaborating with Israel. A global plea goes out to Filipino writers and artists, urging them to safeguard Palestinian voices from being erased and silenced and to join the movement of solidarity with Palestine.
Among the groups and individuals who have signed the statement are Bente-Bente Zine, the Sapphic anthology Paraluman, publishers Aklat Alamid and Paper Trail Projects, writers’ groups UP Literary Society and KM64, alongside scholars and artists such as Neferti Tadiar of Barnard College, former Words Without Borders editorial fellow Soleil David, and poet and children’s book author Luchie Maranan, who translated Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude into Filipino. This statement was also signed by me, Asymptote’s editor-at-large for the Philippines, along with Asymptote contributors Stefani J. Alvarez-Brüggmann and Eric Abalajon.
Andriana Hamas, Editor-at-Large, Reporting from Bulgaria
The world is changing at a speed previously unknown to humans, prompting us to reinvent ourselves and our beliefs more often than it was deemed possible or even wise. The nature of our relationships is also undergoing a formidable transformation, a process unleashed by the rise of the various social media networks. As could be expected, both the happiness and the tragedies of this modern universe have become key to understanding its new and emerging literary voices.
The Bulgarian initiative Literature is Not a Museum, launched this year by the Faculty of Slavic Studies at Sofia University, in collaboration with the Specialized Language School “St. Methodius,” aims to highlight the novel semantic dimensions explored in fiction today and how relatable they actually are to younger audiences. The ultimate goal, of course, is to encourage people to read more and to rekindle their passion for the written word away from the oblivion of endless scrolling. In addition, the campaign emphasizes the need for education to adapt better to the needs of this new age.
The start of the initiative was accompanied by an installation expected to travel to the city of Varna by the middle of next month. It is made up of eleven panels featuring contemporary Bulgarian authors, among them Georgi Gospodinov and Zdravka Evtimova (previously featured both in Asymptote’s quarterly journal and on the blog). Each of them has shared an excerpt from their work and has attempted to explain why literature is indeed not a museum.
Maybe a playground instead?
Charlie Ng, Editor-at-Large, Reporting from Hong Kong
Recent online publications have brought fresh attention to translations of Hong Kong poetry and fiction, including the American literary journal Tupelo Quarterly, in which poet and critic Tiffany Troy speaks with James Shea and Dorothy Tse, translators of the celebrated Hong Kong poet Yam Gong’s Moving a Stone (Zephyr Press, 2022). Yam Gong, born in 1949, is a major, self-taught figure in Hong Kong letters, whose honours include the Hong Kong Biennial Award for Chinese Literature. In the interview, Shea described literary translation as “an act of literary creation,” while Tse highlighted the collaborative process as a deep dialogue exploring language and nuance. The project began when Tse introduced Shea to Yam Gong’s work, sensing a resonance with his own poetry.
In a separate feature for Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, Troy speaks with former Asymptote Chinese Editor and translator Chenxin Jiang about her rendering of multidisciplinary Hong Kong artist Yau Ching’s poetry collection, for now I am sitting here growing transparent (Zephyr Press, 2025). Jiang reflects on the complexities of translating Cantonese-inflected Chinese into English, navigating the political and linguistic layers of a work deeply engaged with Hong Kong’s colonial legacy and modern identity. The poems confront the absorption of colonial values and political reality, while also exploring quieter themes of longing and love, deftly conveyed in English by Jiang. Moreover, Cha has published four reviews of Hon Lai-chu’s Mending Bodies, translated by Jacqueline Leung, published in April this year. A recent review essay by Charlie Ng offers a parallel reading of the novel and Australian director Michael Shanks’s debut feature Together. Ng argues that both works use body horror to literalise the romantic ideal of finding one’s “other half,” mounting a sharp critique of how this notion pathologises individuality and erodes selfhood. Both narratives—Hon’s dystopian allegory and Shanks’s supernatural horror—expose the troubling interplay between personal identity, autonomy, and codependency concealed by this cultural trope.
Looking ahead, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) has named Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Forrest Gander as its 2025 Artist-in-Residence. Gander is a distinguished American writer and translator known for his interdisciplinary work bridging literature, science, and ecology. During his residency, Gander will lead a series of events, including serving as the judge for CUHK Poetry Contest 2025, hosting a Public Reading on 14 November, and conducting two poetry workshops on 5 November and 11 November. This residency promises to encourage significant cross-cultural dialogue at the intersection of literature and ecology.
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