Always interesting to see the theme selected by the Hong Kong Writers Circle (HKWC) for their annual anthology. Just before I left Hong Kong, I edited an HKWC anthology titled Hong Kong Future Perfect. Even then – back in 2016 – it didn’t seem beyond the realms of possibility that some of the less optimistic speculative fiction in that collection might be classed as controversial.
Then 2020 arrived, and everything changed (or accelerated, certainly). This year, 16 writers were ‘invited to shelter under the umbrella of allegory’ (in the words of SCMP reviewer Bernard Cohen). I’m looking forward to seeing how the writers dealt with their brief – pretty well, the review would suggest. Reassuringly, two excellent writers I worked with on Hong Kong Future Perfect – Stewart C Mackay and Jason Y Ng – have new stories within, though ‘reassuring’ is probably the wrong word with which to describe the kind of confident, uncompromising prose – spiked with satire – they are so good at.
Here’s hoping the Hong Kong Writers Circle continues bringing people together creatively for years to come. As with other cultural organisations, advocate groups and independents in the city close to my heart, I breathe a sigh of relief on receiving news of each new project. Fringe Underground are hosting the launch of Masking the City on 13 November from 6.30pm as part of the Hong Kong Literary Festival. Admission is free, talk is cheap, writing remains precious.
The Word Diver 