The Asia Literary Review was a quarterly literary journal published in English and distributed internationally. It included articles of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and the photography genre. The journal first published in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

in 2000 as a small local literary journal called Dim Sum, founded by Nuri Vittachi. Later, Nuri became involved with British businessman and philanthropist

Ilyas Khan Ilyas Khan Order of St. Gregory the Great, KSG (born 1962) is a British technologist and businessman. He is the founder of Cambridge Quantum Computing. Early life Ilyas Tariq Khan was raised in Lancashire (North West England). His grandparents e ...

, who provided encouragement and financial support for the first decade. Khan was a Hong Kong supporter of arts and together they created an international showcase for writers from the Asian region. The final issue was No. 36, Spring 2019. The journal advocated Asian writers by providing a platform for their work to be read in English by international readers. The journal ceased publication suddenly and without any explanation in 2019 during the Hong Kong protests. After a year-long hiatus on its

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

account, the Asia Literary Review posted an uncaptioned photo of the

goddess of democracy The ''Goddess of Democracy'', also known as the ''Goddess of Democracy and Freedom'', the ''Spirit of Democracy'', and the ''Goddess of Liberty'' (; ), was a statue created during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. The statue was constructed ...

on June 4, 2020, the 31st anniversary of its destruction in

Tiananmen Square Tiananmen Square or Tian'anmen Square () is a city square in the city center of Beijing, China, named after the Tiananmen ("''Gate of Heavenly Peace''") located to its north, which separates it from the Forbidden City. The square contains th ...

Contributors/Interview subjects

The magazine published interviews with figures such as

Aung San Suu Kyi Aung San Suu Kyi (born 19 June 1945) is a Burmese politician, diplomat, author, and political activist. She was awarded the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize. She served as State Counsellor of Myanmar and Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Myanmar), Ministe ...

, David Mitchell,

Salman Rushdie Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie ( ; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British and American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern wor ...

and Kyung-sook Shin (2011 winner of the

Man Asian Literary Prize The Man Asian Literary Prize was an annual literary award between 2007 and 2012, given to the best novel by an Asian writer, either written in English or translated into English, and published in the previous calendar year. It is awarded to write ...

). Other contributors included

Margaret Atwood Margaret Eleanor Atwood (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian novelist, poet, literary critic, and an inventor. Since 1961, she has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of nonfiction, nine collections of short fiction, eight chi ...

, Justin Hill,

Liu Xiaobo Liu Xiaobo (; 28 December 1955 – 13 July 2017) was a Chinese literary criticism, literary critic, human rights activist, philosopher and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who called for political reforms and was involved in campaigns to end Ch ...

Su Tong Tong Zhonggui ( zh, c=童忠贵, p=Tóng Zhōngguì; born January 23, 1963), known by the pen name of Su Tong ( zh, s=苏童, t=蘇童, p=Sū Tóng, labels=no) is a Chinese writer. He was born in Suzhou and lives in Nanjing. He entered the Depa ...

Arvind Krishna Mehrotra Arvind Krishna Mehrotra (born 1947) is an Indian poet, anthologist, literary critic and translator. Biography Arvind Krishna Mehrotra was born in Lahore in 1947. He has published six collections of poetry in English and two of translation ...

Laurie Thompson Laurie Thompson (26 February 1938 – 8 June 2015) was a British Academia, academic and translator, noted for his translations of Swedish language, Swedish literature into English language, English. Thompson was born in York, England, and lived ...

Seamus Heaney Seamus Justin Heaney (13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013) was an Irish Irish poetry, poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature. Among his best-known works is ''Death of a Naturalist'' (1966), his first m ...

Kim Young-ha Young-ha Kim (c. November 11, 1968) is a modern South Korean writer. Life Kim was born in Hwacheon on November 11, 1968. He moved from place to place as a child, since his father was in the military. As a child, he suffered from gas poisoning ...

Ko Un Ko Un (; born 1 August 1933) is a South Korean poet whose works have been translated and published in more than fifteen countries. He had been imprisoned many times due to his role in the campaign for Korean democracy and was later mentioned in ...

, Zheng Danyi,

Bei Dao Bei Dao (, born August 2, 1949) is the pen name of the Chinese-American writer Zhao Zhenkai (). Among the most acclaimed Chinese-language poets of his generation, he is often regarded as a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature. In addition ...

Shehan Karunatilaka Shehan Karunatilaka (born 1975) is a Sri Lankan writer. He grew up in Colombo, studied in New Zealand and has lived and worked in London, Amsterdam and Singapore. His 2010 debut novel '' Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew'' won the Commonwea ...

and Xu Xi.

Poetry Parnassus

At Poetry Parnassus, part of the

London 2012 The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

Cultural Olympiad Cultural programmes of the Olympic Games have taken various forms over the years. From 1912 until shortly after the Second World War in 1948, art competitions were held to accompany the Summer Olympics. Since 1952 a series of cultural events has ...

, an ''Asia Literary Review'' Celebration Reading was held at the

Southbank Centre Southbank Centre is an arts centre in London, England. It is adjacent to the separately owned National Theatre and BFI Southbank. It comprises the three main performance spaces – the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, and Purcell R ...

. Participants included

Marjorie Evasco Marjorie Evasco (born September 21, 1953) is a Filipina poet. She writes in two languages: English and Cebuano language, Cebuano-Visayan and is a supporter of women's rights, especially of women writers. Marjorie Evasco is one of the earliest Fil ...

, Jang Jin-sung,

Kim Hyesoon Kim Hyesoon (; born 26 October 1955) is a South Korean poet. She was the first woman poet to receive the Kim Su-yeong Literature Award, Midang Literary Award, Contemporary Poetry Award, and Daesan Literary Awards. She has also received the Gri ...

, Alvin Pang,

Laksmi Pamuntjak Laksmi Pamuntjak (born 1971) is an Indonesian novelist, poet, journalist and food critic based in Jakarta. In 2016, she won thfor the German translation of her debut novel, ''Amba/The Question of Red.'' In 2018, the movie adaptation of her s ...

and Jennifer Wong. The event was covered by the Philippine Star and other media including CBN News.

Staff

Managing Editor: Phillip Kim (Listed on website as business and finance director) Editor in Chief: Martin Alexander 2010-Present (Poetry editor 2000 - 2015) Consulting Editors: Peter Koenig, Robert Hemley, Anurima Roy Senior Editors: Justin Hill, Kavita Jindal, Miichael Vatikiotis, Zheng Danyi

Former staff

Editor: Chris Wood (2008? -?) Literary Editor: Kelly Falconer (Nov 2011 - Dec 2012) Managing Editor and co-founder: Duncan Jepson (2004 - 2011) Contributors included

, Justin Hill,

, Zheng Danyi,

and Xu Xi.

Poetry Parnassus

At Poetry Parnassus, part of the

, an ''Asia Literary Review'' Celebration Reading was held at the

. Participants included

, Jang Jin-sung,

, Alvin Pang,

and Jennifer Wong. The event was covered by th
Philippine Star
and other media includin
CBN News

Staff

Managing Editor: Phillip Kim (Listed on website as business and finance director)

Editor in Chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held account ...

: Martin Alexander 2010- (Poetry editor 2000 - 2015) Consulting Editors: Peter Koenig, Robert Hemley, Anurima Roy Senior Editors: Justin Hill, Kavita Jindal, Miichael Vatikiotis, Zheng Danyi

Former staff

Editor: Chris Wood (2008? -?) Literary Editor: Kelly Falconer (Nov 2011 - Dec 2012) Managing Editor and co-founder: Duncan Jepson (2004 - 2011)

References

External links

Official website
Art magazines published in China Defunct literary magazines published in China Magazines published in Hong Kong Magazines established in 2000 Quarterly magazines published in Hong Kong English-language magazines published in China Defunct English-language magazines {{asia-lit-mag-stub