• ‘Typewriter’

    This post was originally written on 24th March, 2010. This morning, when reading Leonard Wolf’s The Essential Dracula, I learnt a bit more about the universal typing system (the subject of ‘typing’ is brought up as you may know, Mina…

  • Dendrochronology

    Cover art by Shida Cao My short poem “Dendrochronology” is now published in the latest issue (Fall 2010) of Willows Wept Review. The poem was written after a visit to the exhibition “Closer Examinations: Fakes, Mistakes and Discoveries” earlier this year. As the…

  • Fairytales teach us to be bad?

    This post was originally written on 4th December, 2009. Illustration by Rui Tenreiro Do you know the fairytales “Rumpelsiltskin” and “Clever Gretchen”? They have one thing in common: they teach us to be nasty, cunning and dishonest, if they teach.…

  • The demise of small online publications

    This post was originally written on 7th July, 2009. Part of this post is quoted in the article “Persistent Identifiers: the ‘URN Granular’ Project of the German National Library and the University and State Library Halle” [PDF] My poem “Covers and Spines” was…

  • The real reader should be curious

    This post was originally written on 20th May, 2010 Lorrie Moore Today, Paris Review tweeted a quote by the short-story writer Lorrie Moore: “If one loves stories, then one would naturally love the story of the story.” I agree with…

  • Racism, of course, but what else is going on?

    This post was originally written on 1st September 2010. Reading the Atlantic today, I came across the controversy about Dior’s latest advertising campaign — “Shanghai Dreamers”. Produced by the Chinese artist Quentin Shih, the images show striking white women amidst…

  • Genuine email correspondence

    Pictured: Wheatfield with Crows by Vincent Van Gogh Dear ________,We are very sorry to inform you that we cannot publish your poem “_______” in Cha, after all; we found out that it was previously featured in ______. In our acceptance email,…

  • 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…

  • Quote of the day—”I love you madly”

    This post was originally written on 2nd June, 2010. “I think of the postmodern attitude as that of a man who loves a very cultivated woman and who knows that he cannot say to her, “I love you madly”, because…

  • Interventions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies

     . In an article entitled “Language Policy, ‘Asia’s World City’ and Anglophone Hong Kong Writing”, published in Interventions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies, Professor Elaine Ho of the University of Hong Kong has the following to say about Cha: .…

    Interventions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies