• Why are line references in poetry to the nearest factor of five?

    William Empson (1961) answers: Line references are to the nearest factor of five, because factor of ten are usually given in the margin of the text, and the eye can then find the place without further calculation. The show of…

  • "What does SCHOLARLY say, which is not said by INTELLIGENT and RIGHT?"

    A.D. Nuttall (2003) answers: The word, I think, connotes a quality of completeness: at the lowest level, complete literacy (never a colon where a comma should be); complete, though not redundant documentation; complete accuracy even with reference to matters not…

  • Enron at Noël Coward Theatre

    This post was originally written on 5th March, 2010. Last week, we went to see the West End transfer of Enron. The play, which was written by the promising young playwright Lucy Prebble and directed by the current it-boy of…

  • Ocean Vuong’s Burnings is out

    Congratulations to Ocean, whose first poetry chapbook Burnings is now available from Sibling Rivalry Press. You can purchase a copy here.  – Ocean Vuong’s poem “Paramour” was published in issue#10 of Cha; the poem has been nominated for inclusion in Best of…

  • Xu Xi in China Daily

    “People often ask why I write in English, and I finally just decided, ‘I guess this is just the language I use’,” she said. “But I keep trying to put Chinese into my English, and that’s something that I try…

  • Nabina Das and Rohith Sundararaman at the Poetry with Prakriti Poetry Festival 2010

    – Nabina Das and Rohith Sundararaman will appear in the Poetry with Prakriti Poetry Festival this  December. From the festival’s website: Poetry with Prakriti is a two-week long festival of poetry held annually in Chennai to coincide with the famed Chennai…

  • Alices

    Parts of this post were first written in March this year (9th March and 11th March). Revised on 17th November, 2010.   Recently, I read Melanie Benjamin‘s Alice I Have Been (2009), which is a fictional account of the life of…

  • Proverse Hong Kong will hold a winner’s reception and launch five books (23rd November, 2010) ON TUESDAY 23 NOVEMBER

    PROVERSE HONG KONG (PUBLISHERS OF PROSE AND VERSE) WILL HOLD A WINNER’S RECEPTION AND LAUNCH FIVE BOOKS ON TUESDAY 23 NOVEMBER -name of event: international Proverse Prize for unpublished writing Winners’ Reception & Book Launch -date of event: Tuesday 23 November 2010.…

  • British Museum

    This post was originally written on 6th March, 2010. One good thing living in London is that you can just take fancy and go to any number of museums, galleries, theatres whenever you want. Last Sunday, we went to the…

  • HKWC NOVEMBER WORKSHOP – THE CLICHE: 29 November

    THE HONG KONG WRITERS’ CIRCLE NOVEMBER WORKSHOP – THE CLICHE: 29 November, 2010 Just Write workshop will focus on the cliche, some of the ones you hate, some of the ones we hate and some of the ones that were used…