Edited by Xu Xi and Mike Ingham
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City Voices is the first showcase of postwar Hong Kong literature originating in English. Fiction, poetry, essays and memoirs from more than 70 authors are featured to demonstrate 'the rich variety and vitality of the city's literary production'. Together with work from established authors, both bilingual writers who choose to write in English and expatriate authors who have made Hong Kong their home, a section of 'New Voices' introduces the work of unknown and young writers who are part of today's surge of new creativity.
'As the first anthology of Hong Kong prose and poetry written in English, City Voices is a groundbreaking collection that propels readers from the early writing of the 1950s through the creative surge of the 1990s into today. City Voices has poignant, gorgeous, stunning, disturbing, exhilarating writing and is cause for celebration.' - Arthur Sze, author of seven books of poetry, including The Redshifting Web: Poems 1970-1998
'This most necessary and wildly ambitious collection is as boisterous and packed with voices as a Hong Kong street. With an unruly grace, City Voices boldly asserts the rich variety and vitality of the city's literary production, past and present. What a delight to find within these covers not only some old favorites but so many new, exciting writers and poets, whose contributions will leave the reader longing for more.' - David Wong Louie, author of The Barbarians Are Coming and Pangs of Love
'This anthology, containing selections from Hong Kong writers both famous and newly discovered, lays the soul of Hong Kong bare. In writings by turn humorous or dark, we get a look at the secret life of what is arguably the world's most interesting and cosmopolitan city. If you thought Hong Kong was a city devoted only to making money, shopping, and eating well, City Voices will open your eyes and put you in the presence of a scintillating literary community. Hong Kong has a soul and this anthology proves it.' - Robert H. Abel, winner of the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction and the author of Riding a Tiger
'What shape will Hong Kong literature take in the hands of Mother China? This seminal anthology of Hong Kong literature in English hints at myriad possibilities: the city becoming more Chinese and less British, or mainland China becoming more Hong Kong, or perhaps an explosion of multi-cultural sensibilities in this theatre of the South China Sea? While the upcoming acts of history might tickle our exotic imaginings, it is worthwhile to see how this was all staged to begin with. Here is an anthology brilliantly collected by two who are themselves literary pioneers, Xu Xi and Mike Ingham, of work originally composed in English, or if not, self-translated to English - perfect for those of us who question the authenticity of translation - an anthology that offers a multi-genre vision from writers who live there or have lived there, writers who are all active observers and participants in Hong Kong's march through history.' - Bino A. Realuyo, editor and author, The Umbrella Country
(Excerpt from hkupress.org)
