Category: 2025 Books
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Editor’s note: Troy Cabida reflects on his debut poetry collection Neon Manila, exploring queer Filipino-immigrant embodiment, pop music, resistance, as glamour and violence coexist. Some poems from the collection can be found HERE. [ESSAY] βOn Neon Manila: A Balancing Act…
![[ESSAY] βOn ππππ ππππππ: A Balancing Act Between Sparkle and Substanceβ by Troy Cabida](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/img_6830.jpg?w=1024)
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Read Troy Cabida’s essay “On Neon Manila: A Balancing Act Between Sparkle and Substance” HERE. [EXCLUSIVE] βFour Poems from Neon Manilaβ by Troy Cabida Troy Cabida, Neon Manila, Nine Arches Press, 2025. 72 pgs. Black Turtleneck Sonnet With my first ever…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “Four Poems from ππππ ππππππ” by Troy Cabida](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/81b4db7dtkl._sl1500_-1.jpg?w=984)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [ESSAY] “What is an Orange? Reading Gillian Szeβs An Orange, A Syllable” by Robert Black Gillian Sze, An Orange, A Syllable, ECW Press, 2025. 88 pgs. What Is an origin? A…
![[ESSAY] “What is an Orange? Reading Gillian Szeβs π΄π ππππππ, π΄ ππ¦ππππππ” by Robert Black](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/https-ecwpress.comproductsorange-a-syllable.webp?w=663)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS Editor’s note: In Hongwei Bao’s new essay, Pillion (2025), directed by Harry Lighton and adapted from Adam Mars-Jonesβs 2020 novella Box Hill, becomes a lens for exploring queer biker cinema, kink…
![[ESSAY] “Geared Up for Pillion” by Hongwei Bao](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/pillion-film-poster.jpg?w=1024)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Observation as Inheritance: iTim Fitts’s The Peopleβs Island” by Jack Greenberg Tim Fitts, The Peopleβs Island, Spuyten Duyvil, 2025. 175 pgs. The Peopleβs Island presents itself as a coming of…
![[REVIEW] “Observation as Inheritance: Tim Fitts’s πβπ ππππππβπ πΌπ ππππ” by Jack Greenberg](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tim-fitts-the-peoples-island-spuyten-duyvil.jpg?w=1000)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “On the Verge with Claire Lee: Where Objects Become Literature” by Susan Blumberg-Kason Claire Lee, On the Verge, Independently published, 2025. 120 pgs. Claire Lee is an accomplished visual…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “ππ π‘βπ πππππ with Claire Lee: Where Objects Become Literature” by Susan Blumberg-Kason](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/on-the-verge_claire-lee.png?w=1024)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] βAn Oceanic Taiwan: Niki J. P. Alsford and Ti-Han Changβs Reorienting Taiwanβ by Lu Feng Niki J. P. Alsford and Ti-Han Chang (editors), Reorienting Taiwan: Ocean, Selfhood, and the Pacific,…
![[REVIEW] βAn Oceanic Taiwan: Niki J. P. Alsford and Ti-Han Changβs π
πππππππ‘πππ ππππ€ππβ by Lu Feng](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/reorientating-taiwan-ocean-selfhood-and-the-pacific.jpg?w=1024)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] βYou Are My Friend: On Ocean Vuongβs The Emperor of Gladnessβ by Nirris Nagendrarajah Ocean Vuong, The Emperor of Gladness, Penguin, 2025. 416 pgs. For Ocean Vuong, the critically acclaimed…
![[REVIEW] βYou Are My Friend: On Ocean Vuongβs πβπ πΈπππππ ππ πΊππππππ π β by Nirris Nagendrarajah](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/ocean-vuong-the-emperor-of-gladness.jpg?w=992)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] βThe Personal βIβ and Conflicted Identities: Paritosh Senβs A Tree in My Villageβ by Dustin Pickering Paritosh Sen, A Tree in My Village, CLASSIX, 2025. 79 pgs. Many contemporary texts…
![[REVIEW] βThe Personal βIβ and Conflicted Identities: Paritosh Senβs π΄ ππππ ππ ππ¦ πππππππβ by Dustin Pickering](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/paritosh-sen.jpg?w=765)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS Editor’s note: In Chris Songβs essay, James Sheaβs Last Day of My Face (University of Iowa Press, 2025) is read in relation to Hong Kong as both a lived city and…
![[ESSAY] “πΏππ π‘ π·ππ¦ ππ ππ¦ πΉπππ, Past Light of a City: Reading James Shea and Hong Kong” by Chris Song](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/https-uipress.uiowa_.edubookslast-day-my-face.jpg?w=970)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “James Sheaβs Last Day of My Face and the Practice of Not Knowing” by Jennifer Eagleton ClickΒ HERE to readΒ all entries inΒ ChaΒ onΒ Last Day of My Face. James Shea, The Last Day of…
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [ESSAY] βThe Female Researcher and Patriarchal Figures in Hon Lai Chuβs Mending Bodiesβ by Grace En-Yi Ting Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Mending Bodies. Hon Lai Chu (author), Jacqueline Leung (translator), Mending…
![[ESSAY] βThe Female Researcher and Patriarchal Figures in Hon Lai Chuβs πππππππ π΅πππππ β by Grace En-Yi Ting](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/hon-lai-chu-author-jacqueline-leung-translator-mending-bodies-two-lines-press-2025.-240-pgs.jpg?w=938)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] βMariko Nagaiβs Imaginary Death: The Genre-Bending Architecture of Wartime Testimonyβ by James AuΒ Kin-Pong Mariko Nagai, Imaginary Death, Punctum Books, 2025. 297 pgs. It is difficult to determine the genre to…
![[REVIEW] βMariko Nagaiβs πΌππππππππ¦ π·πππ‘β: The Genre-Bending Architecture of Wartime Testimonyβ by James Au Kin-Pong](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/imaginary-death-mariko-nagai.png?w=600)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] βWhen News Breaks: Carol Linβs Memoir of Love and Warβ by Susan Blumberg-Kason Carol Lin, When News Breaks, Third Rail Press, 2025. 284 pgs. Carol Lin came of age in…
![[REVIEW] βπβππ πππ€π π΅πππππ : Carol Linβs Memoir of Love and Warβ by Susan Blumberg-Kason](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/when.png?w=1024)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Kokuho: Lee Sang-ilβs Mesmerizing Portrait of Kabuki Mastery” by Jennifer Eagleton Lee Sang-il (director), Kokuho, 2025. 174 min. What makes Lee Sang-ilβs Kokuho special are the tight closeups of onnagata…
![[REVIEW] “πΎπππ’βπ: Lee Sang-ilβs Mesmerizing Portrait of Kabuki Mastery” by Jennifer Eagleton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/httpsgkids.comfilmskokuho.png?w=1024)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] βConsequences of Cosmopolitan Dreams in Nawapol Thamrongrattanaritβs Human Resource” by Lorence Lozano Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit (director), Human Resource, 2025. Three years after his last film, Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit returns with a new…
![[REVIEW] βConsequences of Cosmopolitan Dreams in Nawapol Thamrongrattanaritβs π»π’πππ π
ππ ππ’πππ” by Lorence Lozano](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/nawapol-thamrongrattanarit-director-human-resource.png?w=1024)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] βWhoβs Afraid of Not Conjoined Bodies?: Hon Lai Chuβs Mending Bodiesβ by Tin Yuet Tam Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Mending Bodies. Hon Lai Chu (author), Jacqueline Leung (translator), Mending Bodies,…
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “From Silence to Sound: Kaori Laiβs Microhistorical Poetics of the White Terror” by Serena De Marchi Kaori Lai (author), Sylvia Li-chun Lin and Howard Goldblatt (translators), Portraits in White, Columbia…
![[REVIEW] “From Silence to Sound: Kaori Laiβs Microhistorical Poetics of the White Terror” by Serena De Marchi](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/portraits-in-white-by-kaori-lai.png?w=1024)
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πΒ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπΒ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS James Albon (author and illustrator), Love Languages, Top Shelf Productions, 2025. 176 pgs. The book begins with six pages of vibrant illustrations depicting people of diverse cultural backgrounds at…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βLife Outside the Bubble in James Albonβs πΏππ£π πΏππππ’ππππ β by Vanessa Winghei Yeung](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/lovelangs_jalbon-2.jpg?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Uno Chiyo (author), Rebecca Copeland (translator), The Story of a Single Woman, Pushkin Press, 2025. 106 pgs. Everything in Uno Chiyoβs The Story of a Single Woman, translated from…
![[REVIEW]Β βThe Trembling of Memory: Self and Society in Uno Chiyoβs πβπ ππ‘πππ¦ ππ π ππππππ πππππβ by Wani Nazir](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/uno-chiyo-author-rebecca-copeland-translator-the-story-of-a-single-woman-pushkin-press-1.jpg?w=977)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Kiriti Sengupta. Kiriti Sengupta, Selected Poems, Transcendent Zero Press, 2025. 228 pgs. It has been more than a decade since the medical practitioner turned poet,…
![[REVIEW] “The Stillness Between Fire and Water: On Kiriti Senguptaβs ππππππ‘ππ πππππ ” by Abhik Ganguly](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/selected-poems-final-1-scaled-e1754154149300.webp?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Mallika Bhaumik, When Time is a Magic Jar, Red River Press, 2025. 108 pgs. When Time is a Magic Jar by Mallika Bhaumik is like finding an old, dusty…
![[REVIEW] βWhen the Jar Spills Time: Reading Mallika Bhaumikβs πβππ ππππ ππ π πππππ π½ππβ by Wani Nazir](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/when-time-is-a-magic-jar.jpg?w=1024)
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πΒ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπΒ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Mending Bodies. β Hon Lai Chu (author), Jacqueline Leung (translator), Mending Bodies, Two Lines Press, 2025. 240 pgs.β Michael Shanks (director), Together, 2025. 102 min.…
![[REVIEW] “The Fantasy of Wholeness through Body Horror in Hon Lai-chuβs πππππππ π΅πππππ and Michael Shanksβs πππππ‘βππβ by Charlie Ng](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/the-fantasy-of-wholeness-through-body-horror-in-hon-lai-chus-mending-bodies-and-michael-shankss-together.png?w=1024)
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Editor’s note: In this interview, poet and critic Tiffany Troy speaks with translator Chenxin Jiang about her recent rendering of for now I am sitting here growing transparent (Zephyr Press, 2025) by Hong Kong poet, filmmaker, and scholar Yau Ching.…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “On Translating Hong Kong Identity, Resilience, & Longing” by Tiffany Troy and Chenxin Jiang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/71e5yoi5wl._sl1500_-1.jpg?w=1023)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on So That You Know. Mani Rao, So That You Know, HarperCollins India, 2025. 312 pgs. Referring to notes I made on Mani Raoβs newest poetry…
![[REVIEW] βA Prism of Time: The Shifting Passions of Mani Raoβs Poetry in ππ πβππ‘ πππ’ πΎπππ€β by Jennifer Eagleton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/mani-rao-so-that-you-know-cha.jpg?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Mahmoud Alshaer & Mohammed Al-Zaqzooq (editors), Letters from Gaza: A Collection by the People; Unveiling Their Stories and Emotions from the Year That Has Been, Penguin Random House SEA,…
![[REVIEW] βA War, Many Cries, and a Long, Unkind Sleep: πΏππ‘π‘πππ ππππ πΊππ§πβ by Kabir Deb](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/letters-from-gaza-a-collection-by-the-people-unveiling-their-stories-and-emotions-from-the-year-that-has-been-1.jpg?w=906)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Hiro Arikawa (author), Allison Markin Powell (translator). The Passengers on the Hankyu Line, Penguin Random House, 2025. 256 pgs. It seems fitting that I began reading The Passengers on…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βThe Train Ride of Life: Hiro Arikawaβs πβπ πππ π ππππππ ππ π‘βπ π»ππππ¦π’ πΏπππβ by Koay Xinyi](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/81pcgpwou4l._sl1500_.jpg?w=956)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] βLav Diazβs Magellan: From Counter-Time to Counter-Historyβ by Ramzzi FariΓ±as ClickΒ HERE to readΒ all entries inΒ ChaΒ onΒ Magellan. Lav Diaz (director), Magellan, 2025. 165 min. If the art of history is to be…
![[REVIEW] βLav Diazβs ππππππππ: From Counter-Time to Counter-Historyβ by Ramzzi FariΓ±as](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/images.jpeg?w=294)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on So That You Know. Mani Rao, So That You Know, HarperCollins India, 2025. 312 pgs. “Isnβt it better to write poems about topics? On the…
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β Afterword: Living Between Languagesβ Three Poemsβ Anything but Human 倧ιε @ TrendLit Publishing Living between languages by Daryl Lim Wei Jie My poetry was brewed in the multilingual kitchen that is Singapore. The translational and the interlingualβthat is, existing…
![[FEATURE] “π΄ππ¦π‘βπππ ππ’π‘ π»π’πππ: Living between Languages” by Daryl Lim Wei Jie](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/anythingbuthuman-copy.jpg?w=838)
Cha 