Eastern Heathens | Call for Submissions

-

Cha contributors and readers might be interested in contributing to the anthology Eastern Heathens, which will include fiction inspired by existing Asian folklore. You can see some information below. Please also visit the anthology website and facebook page.

Editors Amanda Lee and  Ng Yi-Sheng helpfully provide a (non-comprehensive) list of Asian fairytales. 

Eastern Heathens, an anthology of fiction inspired by Asian folklore.

We love Asian folklore. We grew up listening to Chinese legends, Arab fairy tales, Malay ghost stories and Indian sacred epics, and their fabulous images have continued to inhabit our imaginations ever since.

But as adults, we’re sometimes bugged by the moralistic, simplistic way these fables are told. We’re aching to hear these tropes subverted, perverted or simply adapted to reflect our times.

So, we’ve decided to reinvent our heritage. We’re putting together ‘Eastern Heathens’: an anthology of short stories based on folklore from our continent. We’re looking for intelligent, imaginative myths, retold for adult connoisseurs.

We’d like you to base your story on a pre-existing Asian folktale. To help you out, we’ve included a list of our favourite traditional stories and sagas below. (Do feel free to interpret a story that’s from a culture other than your ‘own’.)

Our deadline is 31 January 2012. Entries should be in prose; poetry will not be accepted. Please include your name and your contact information in your submission. Also include the title of the original folktale that’s inspired your story, as well as a brief summary of that folktale for our reference.

E-mail easternheathens@gmail.com for enquiries and submissions.

ceriph presents - SYNÆSTHESIA: drawing words, reading pictures

[click the image to go to the website]

• Ng Yi-Sheng's poetry was published in issue #8 of Cha.
• Alvin Pang's poetry was published in issue #2 of Cha and his photographs were published in issue #12 of the journal.

Ng Yi-Sheng and Cyril Wong in The Substation Love-Letters Project

=

Ng Yi-Sheng's poem "How Buildings Make Love" and Cyril Wong's "Eclipse" are now published in The Substation Love-Letters Project. Learn more about the project here. 

-

• Ng Yi-Sheng's poetry was published in issue #8 of Cha.
• Cyril Wong's poetry has been published in issue#1 of Cha.

=

Introducing Asymptote

I am very excited to have the opportunity to introduce Asymptote to Cha readers. Asymptote is a new journal dedicated to literary translation and is run by a team of talented people from different parts of the world -- Singapore, Taiwan, Germany, and the U.S. Cha contributor Yew Leong Lee (Singapore/Taiwan) is the founder of the publication while another contributor, Ng Yi-Sheng (Singapore), is the Drama editor. The editorial team also comprises the following: Poetry/Criticism: Brandon Holmquest (US), Nonfiction: Wong Chee Meng (Singapore/Germany), Special Feature: Anthony Luebbert (US). They will also run interviews, conducted by the editors. 

From the Asymptote website:

George Bernard Shaw famously said, “If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange those ideas, then each of us will have two ideas.” Similarly, incorporeal works of art (poems, short stories etc.) have the potential to affect millions since unlike apples, they are unencumbered by the problem of scarcity (Lewis Hyde). The value of translation is that it unleashes from latency ideas and emotions to a vast sea of others who do not have access to the language in which these ideas and emotions reside.

In an email, Yew Leong told me:

What differentiates Asymptote from other magazines is that we not only intend to display the original text after the translation, but we also encourage translators (especially of poems) to provide MP3 recordings of a reading of the original text so as to offer the reader a feel of what the original material sounds like. We even have a visual poetry section where we showcase the intrinsic visual characteristics of the non-English language under scrutiny.

(Don't you love that Shaw quote?) The first issue of Asymptote is due out in January 2011 and if you look at their website, you will find that they have already secured a great lineup of works: a despatch from Afghanistan, translated from the Farsi; an essay from Japan by a noted mathematician/essayist titled “Literature and Mathematics”; poems from Melih Cevdet Anday translated from the Turkish by Sidney Wade and Efe Murad; a dramatic excerpt from the critically-acclaimed "Nadirah", translated by Alfian Sa'at, one of Singapore's top playwrights; and an interview with the Golden Melody Award-winning Chinese lyricist. Also, Kevin Kunstadt of K&K Photography Gallery has agreed to curate the illustrations for the first issue of Asymptote. [See here for a full description of this lineup -- it is also updated by the editors every now and then.]

This sounds extremely interesting. And if you want to be part of this exciting project, they are currently accepting submissions of poetry, fiction (short fiction or excerpts of longer works), drama as well as certain categories of nonfiction (memoir, despatch, and the occasional essay on literature or translation) for their debut issue (Deadline for submissions is 20 December 2010). Read the guidelines to learn more. 

A promising journal to watch/read/enjoy!
-
Like Asymptote on Facebook. 

• Yew Leong Lee's short story "The Disappearance" was published in Issue #6 of Cha.
• Ng Yi-Sheng's poetry has been published in issue #8 of Cha.

-

Bookstore Launch of GASPP, Sunday 21 Nov, 3pm

BOOKSTORE LAUNCH OF GASPP: A GAY ANTHOLOGY OF SINGAPORE POETRY AND PROSE

3-4pm, Birds & Co, Orchard Cineleisure #03-05A

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=159379880764684

They are expecting to feature readings with Ovidia Yu, X'Ho, Lee Yew Leong and Cyril Wong.
-

• Ng Yi-Sheng's poetry was published in issue #8 of Cha.
• Cyril Wong's poetry was published in issue#1 of Cha.
• Yew Leong Lee's short story "The Disappearance" was published in Issue#6 of Cha.

-

GASPP: a Gay Anthology of Singapore Poetry and Prose

GASPP: a Gay Anthology of Singapore Poetry and Prose is an anthology of writing by queer Singapore writers, co-edited by Ng Yi-Sheng with Dominic Chua, Jasmine Seah and Irene Oh. The book features works by several Cha contributors including Cyril Wong, Lee Yew Leong, Koh Jee Leong, O Thiam Chin and Ng Yi-Sheng. More information about the collection can be found here.

GASPP: A Gay Anthology of Singapore Poetry and Prose is reviewed on the Fridae. Reviewer June Lee writes, "[F]or better or verse, GASPP represents the brave voices of contemporary writers who voluntarily identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and otherwise queer in Singapore. [...] These voices are a collective gasp that cannot be hushed." Read the full article.
-

• Ng Yi-Sheng's poetry was published in issue #8 of Cha.
• Cyril Wong's poetry was published in issue#1 of Cha.
• Yew Leong Lee's short story "The Disappearance" was published in Issue#6 of Cha.
• Jee Leong Koh's poetry was published in issue#6 of Cha.
• O Thiam Chin's short story "Pebbles" was published in Issue #8 of Cha.

-

-

Lit Up Singapore 2010

Lit Up Singapore 2010: Emerging Writers and Performers Festival is only a week away (9-18, July) and Cha contributor Ng Yi-Sheng will be there. More about Lit Up Singapore here.

-

Ng Yi-Sheng's poetry has been published in issue #8 of Cha.

Chris Mooney-Singh and Ng Yi-Sheng performing at The NUS Literary Society's Evening of Poetry & Music 2010

[click image to see a larger version. More details can be found here.]

• Chris Mooney-Singh's poem "After the Lion Dance" was published in issue #2 of Cha.
• Ng Yi-Sheng's poetry has been published in issue #8 of Cha.

Singapore Writers' Festival 2009

Come and join the Singapore Writers' Festival this year and meet Cha contributors Alvin Pang, Cyril Wong, Daren Shiau, Leung Ping-kwan, Ng Yi-Sheng and O Thiam Chin.

• Alvin Pang has had three poems published in issue#2 of Cha.
• Cyril Wong's poetry has been published in issue#1 of Cha.
• Daren Shiau's prose poems have been published in issue #5 of Cha.
• Leung Ping-kwan's poetry has been published in issue #1 of Cha.
• Ng Yi-Sheng's poetry has been published in issue #8 of Cha.
• O Thiam Chin's fiction has been published in issue #8 of Cha.

CHA contributors in Ubud Writers & Readers Festival 2009

Cha contributors Viki Holmes, Sushma Joshi, Kate Rogers and Ng Yi-Sheng will be appearing in the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival. Support them by joining the festival!

• Viki Holmes's poetry was published in issue#3 of Cha and her review of Gillian Sze's Fish Bones was published in issue #8 of the journal.
• Sushma Joshi's fiction has been published inissue #3 of Cha.
• Kate Rogers's review of Ching-In Chen's The Heart's Traffic: a Novel in Poems and Todd Swift's Seaway: New and Selected Poems has been published in issue #8 of Cha.
• Ng Yi-Sheng's poetry has been published in issue #8 of Cha.