Xu Xi Knihy

An all-in-one craft guide and anthology, this is the first creative writing book to find inspiration and guidance in the diverse literary traditions of Asia. Including exemplary stories by leading writers from Japan, China, India, Singapore and beyond as well as those from Asian diasporas in Europe and America, The Art and Craft of Asian Stories offers an exciting take on the traditional how-to writing guide by drawing from a rich new trove of short stories beyond the western canon which readers may never have encountered before. Whilst still taking stock of the traditional elements of story such as character, viewpoint and setting, Xu and Hemley let these compelling stories speak for themselves to offer readers new ideas and approaches which could enrich their own creative work. Structured around the themes encountered in the stories, such as race and identity, history and power, family and aspirations, this text is a vital companion for writers at all levels keen to develop and find new perspectives on key elements of their craft.Written by two internationally successful writers and teachers, each chapter contains complete short stories and writing exercises for practice and inspiration.

Smoked Pearl is Akinsola Olufemi Jeje's first full-length collection of poetry, a semi-autobiographical compilation of poems written between 2005 and 2008. The collection thus indirectly chronicles Jeje's arrival in Hong Kong and his subsequent observations of Hong Kong life, Chinese and world events (Canada, Iraq, Africa, the USA); and his musings on race, culture, everyday life and matters of the heart. By turns exuberant, pensive, angry and poignant, Smoked Pearl speaks from the heart of a black Westerner as he negotiates the complexities of "Asia's world city" and its unique place in Chinese history and culture. Akin Jeje sees Hong Kong as a place where the political intersects with the personal. In his poetry, he compellingly shows his consciousness that the territory itself creates its own daily poetry through the joined rhythms of its own existence and that of the emerging giant on whose lip it rests. The title "Smoked Pearl" alludes to Hong Kong's position at the mouth of China's Pearl River Delta. But it also calls to mind Hong Kong's common designation as, "the Pearl of the Orient," indicating that here we have a different view. Jeje brings to Hong Kong and the world events he engages with a unique perspective of outrage, fascination, and - ultimately - compassion.

What happens when an intelligent, high-powered woman executive relinquishes all responsibilities? Somewhere between Hong Kong and New York, life does an abrupt shift for Gail Szeto when her mother, her last family member, is killed in an accident. For Gail, a mixed-race, single mother who buried her young son only two years prior, all she has left is a hard-won career at a global investment bank. Life rapidly goes into free fall for this woman with a complicated past, who was once so sure of her direction in life, who can now see no clear future path. With an international cast in New York, Hong Kong and Shanghai, this novel dramatizes a Sino-American balance of power at a staggeringly intimate level.

What do we think we desire? What do we truly desire? These are the two competing forces underlying Xu Xi’s latest fiction collection Access. These thirteen tales are at once acerbic and heartbreaking, directing our gaze at the incongruities of human relations and the persistence of wounds our hearts cannot heal. Those in the multi culti world of these fictions seek answers to questions they have yet to learn to ask. But every so often they glimpse an entry point, and these sightings offer reason to hope, even if access will again be denied, as it inevitably is, for those whose desires strain towards perfection in our highly imperfect world.

This collection delves into the experiences and identities of overseas Chinese through a series of poignant short stories and essays. It examines themes of cultural dislocation, belonging, and the complexities of navigating multiple identities in a globalized world. Each piece offers unique perspectives, reflecting the diverse lives and challenges faced by those living outside their ancestral homeland, ultimately celebrating resilience and the search for connection.

This new edition includes a reading guide for literature & creative writing teachers and students by Prof. Mike Ingham of Lingnan University. From the turbulent sixties through the nineties, here is a “history” of Hong Kong, told through fiction by one of Hong Kong'’s top writers. Written over the past thirty years, these stories represent the evolution and shaping of a voice, as she strives to create art out of her birthplace, “the city that remains her perpetual concern.” Here are portraits of Hong Kong, painted with compassion and love against the backdrop of historical events.

Exploring themes of friendship and identity, the narrative follows Gordon Ashberry, a wealthy but aimless man who decides to give away his fortune at fifty. His life takes a turn when a young Chinese writer capitalizes on his decision, leading to unexpected fame and self-imposed exile. Set against the backdrop of U.S.-China relations, the story unfolds through the perspectives of his friends, Harold and Larry, as they seek to understand Gordon's disappearance. This metafictional work draws inspiration from both contemporary and classic literature.

Observations of contemporary life that make monkeys of this existential disbelief thrums through speculative stories and essays in Xu Xi's latest collection. These 16 short pieces, evenly divided between fiction and nonfiction, are in turn elegiac, satiric, darkly comic, lyrical, even confessional in tone, and traverse the inequities and abuse of power in sex, politics, race history, culture, and language across a disquieting transnational terrain. Prepare to be disturbed, enlightened, and maybe even entertained.

The narrative delves into the author's complex relationship with Hong Kong, reflecting on her frustrations with the city's recent developments and their impact on her identity. As she grapples with her decision to leave for good, Xu Xi offers a deeply personal farewell that captures her love for the city while acknowledging the changes that have led her to seek a new chapter elsewhere. Through this exploration, she articulates the emotional weight of leaving a place that has significantly influenced her life.

In This Fish Is Fowl Xu Xi offers the transnational and feminist perspective of a contemporary “glocalized” American life. Xu’s quirky, darkly comic, and obsessively personal essays emerge from her diverse professional career as a writer, business executive, entrepreneur, and educator. From her origins in Hong Kong as an Indonesian of Chinese descent to her U.S. citizenship and multiple countries of residence, she writes her way around the globe. Caring for her mother with Alzheimer’s in Hong Kong becomes the rhythmic accompaniment to an enforced, long-term, long-distance relationship with her partner and home in New York. In between Xu reflects on all her selves, which are defined by those myriad monikers of existence. As an author who began life as a novelist and fiction writer, she also considers the nature of genre, which snakes its way through these essays. In her linguistic trip across the comic tragedy that is globalism, she wonders about the mystery of humanity and the future of our world at this complicated and precarious moment in human existence. This Fish Is Fowl is a twenty-first-century blend of the essayist traditions of both West and East. Xu’s acerbic, deft prose shows her to be a descendant of both Michel de Montaigne and Lu Xun, with influences from stepparent Jonathan Swift.