Ten books to be launched by Association of Stories in Macau

ASM’s
2009 Publications

Ten books to be launched at Fantasia Galleries on Saturday 5th December, 2009 3pm – 5 pm.


Macao's most prominent community publisher, ASM (Association of Stories in Macao) is to launch ten new poetry (and related) titles this year. The launch is to be at Fantasia Galleries in the Tap Seac District and to take place on Saturday 5th December at 3 pm.

ASM is a non-profit organisation dedicated to the promotion of writing and other artistic expression from and about Macao. Established in 2005, ASM has so far published twenty five books, works of fiction, poetry and pedagogy. Following last year’s six book launch which featured the poetry anthologies I Roll the Dice and Pluck a Lotus for Pleasure several new large scale poetry anthologies will be appearing this year.

In the classical poetry series:

Fragrance of Damask – Women Poets of the Tang Dynasty
– bilingual Chinese/English edition

translated by Christopher Kelen, Amy Wong, Hilda Tam, Iris Fan and Song Zijiang
Companion to ASM’s anthology of Song Women Poets Pluck a Lotus for Pleasure, published in 2008, Fragrance of Damask provides the English reader with a comprehensive collection of works of more than thirty women poets of the Tang Dynasty (618-907 C.E). Along with little known authors of the period, some of the most famous are represented here by works previously untranslated. Included are Li Re, Yu Xuan Ji, She Tao. These collaborative translations are from the University of Macau’s 1958group. (around 442pp)

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Published in 2008, I Roll the Dice (420pp) was the first serious English language anthology of Macao poetry. Sampling poetry written in three languages (Chinese, Portuguese and English) that collection featured the work of more than one hundred poets and sixteen translators. This year ASM is launching a companion volume

Portuguese Poets of Macao – bilingual Portuguese/English editionOrganised on historical principles, this anthology is the first comprehensive collection of Portuguese-language Macao poetry for the English-language reader. Including Alves, Oliveira, Dias, Arrimar, Marreiros and many more. (around 400pp)


The other major anthology to be launched this year is Fires Rumoured about the City – Anthology of Contemporary Australian Poets
This volume will bring together selections from the poetry of fourteen Australian poets, these poems published for the first time in Chinese. Includes translations of the poetry of Thomas Shapcott, Alan Jefferies, Jane Gibian, Judy Johnson and Rae Desmond Jones. These collaborative translations are from the University of Macau’s 1958group. (around 400pp)

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Apart from the anthologies, six first books of poems will be launched. These are:

Lost in the Afternoon – Iris Fan – bilingual Chinese/English edition
This experimental conversation across languages offers the reader poetic responses to many experiences and cultural phenomena, including especially the poetry of indigenous women. The book is organized in a bilingual parallel text format but the Chinese and English texts presented are not translations; rather they represent a personal interaction across cultures. (around 160pp)


Macao Temple Poems – Petra Seak – bilingual Chinese/English
Employing the haibun style of Basho’s The Narrow Road to the Deep North, this prose-and-verse tour of Macao’s temples takes us to some of the best known of Macao’s spiritual landmarks and as well in to some of the less frequented alleys of the city. A book which aids in understanding the soul of Macao (around 90pp).


Everybody has a Pet – Debby Sou Vai Keng
Around Macao and around the world, the challenging and often quirky poetry of Macao painter, Debby Sou, takes us to unexpected but familiar places. These poems are about various aspects of spiritual attachment. (around 80pp)

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Three of these first books of poetry are the beginning of ASM’s bilingual poetry chapbook series. These are:

Winter Story – Lili Han – 54pp

The Green here was Pink – Hilda Tam Hio Man – 32pp

Wiping the Dim Sky – Chris Song Zijiang – 36pp


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A new series of Culture and Theory volumes is also being commenced this year.

City of Poets, first volume in the Culture and Theory series, is a critical companion to last year’s I Roll the Dice anthology. Through interdisciplinary means it deals with persistent themes in contemporary Macao poetry (around 200pp).

• Christopher (Kit) Kelen's poetry has been published in issue #1 of Cha.
• Alan Jefferies's poetry has been published in issue #7 of Cha.