Category: 2026 Books
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Kit Fanβs Goodbye Chinatown and the Politics of Taste” by Jonathan Han Click HERE to read all entries in Chaon Goodbye Chinatown. Kit Fan, Goodbye Chinatown, World Editions, 2026. 268…
![[REVIEW] “Kit Fanβs πΊπππππ¦π πΆβππππ‘ππ€π and the Politics of Taste” by Jonathan Han](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/goodbye-chinatown-kit-fan-cha.jpg?w=938)
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Editor’s note: We are delighted to present an essay by the distinguished translator Howard Goldblatt, whose work has been instrumental in introducing modern Chinese fiction to English-speaking readers. In his essay, Goldblatt reflects on his translation of Liang Xiaoshengβs My…
![[MY DESTINY] “Me and ππ¦ π·ππ π‘ππ𦔠by Howard Goldblatt](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/howard-goldblatt-my-destiny-and-me-for-cha.png?w=1024)
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Editorβs note: We are pleased to present the first chapter of Liang Xiaosheng’s My Destiny, translated by the renowned Howard Goldblatt, whose work has played a defining role in bringing modern Chinese fiction to an English-speaking readership. Readers interested in…
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[CONVERSATION] βFlights of Memory and Meaning: On Paper Planeβ by Sadie Kaye and Nifraz Rifaz Nifraz Rifaz, Paper Plane, The Jam Fruit Tree Publications, 2026. 368 pgs. In my review of Paper Plane, first published in The Hooghly Review, on…
![[CONVERSATION] “Flights of Memory and Meaning: On πππππ πππππ” by Sadie Kaye and Nifraz Rifaz](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/nifraz-rifaz-paper-plane-cha.jpg?w=972)
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Editor’s note: In this feature, we present an interview with Jennifer Wong on her new collection Light Year, conducted by Chaβs staff reviewer Michael Tsang. Wongβs work is widely recognised for its attentiveness to memory, language, and the complexities of…
![[CONVERSATION] “Writing Through Loss, Language, and Home: On πΏππβπ‘ ππππ” by Michael Tsang and Jennifer Wong](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/light-year-paperback-e28093-19-feb.-2026-english-edition-by-jennifer-wong-author.jpg?w=322)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βFor Novice and Expert: Jeffrey Wasserstromβs Everything You Wanted to Know About China (But Were Afraid to Ask)β by Susan Blumberg-Kason Click HERE to read ALL entries in Chaon…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βFor Novice and Expert: Jeffrey Wasserstromβs πΈπ£πππ¦π‘βπππ πππ’ ππππ‘ππ π‘π πΎπππ€ π΄πππ’π‘ πΆβπππ (π΅π’π‘ ππππ π΄πππππ π‘π π΄π π)β by Susan Blumberg-Kason](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/everything-you-wanted-to-know-about-china-.jpg?w=936)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Understanding China Beyond the Headlines: Jeffrey Wasserstrom’s Everything You Wanted to Know About China” by Jennifer Eagleton Click HERE to read ALL entries in Chaon Everything You Wanted to…
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “A Librarianβs Take on Zheng Liuβs Cultural Mavericks: The Business and Politics of Independent Bookselling in China” by Raymond Pun Click HERE to readΒ all entries inΒ ChaΒ onΒ Cultural Mavericks. Zheng Liu, Cultural…
![[REVIEW] “A Librarianβs Take on Zheng Liuβs πΆπ’ππ‘π’πππ πππ£ππππππ : πβπ π΅π’π ππππ π πππ πππππ‘πππ ππ πΌππππππππππ‘ π΅ππππ ππππππ ππ πΆβπππ” by Raymond Pun](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/cultural-mavericks-the-business-and-politics-of-independent-bookselling-in-china.jpg?w=971)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Fragmentation and Repair in Leslie Shimotakaharaβs The Breakwater” by Jonathan Han Click HERE to read all entries in Chaon The Breakwater. Leslie Shimotakahara, The Breakwater, Cormorant Books, 2026. 350 pgs. Since committing his…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Fragmentation and Repair in Leslie Shimotakaharaβs πβπ π΅πππππ€ππ‘ππ” by Jonathan Han](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/the-breakwater.jpg?w=900)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βBearing Witness in Gigi L. Leungβs Everyday Movementβ by Rebekah Chan ClickΒ HERE to readΒ all entries inΒ ChaΒ onΒ Everyday Movement. Gigi L. Leung (author), Jennifer Feeley (translator), Everyday Movement, Riverhead Books. 2026.…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Bearing Witness in Gigi L. Leungβs πΈπ£πππ¦πππ¦ πππ£πππππ‘” by Rebekah Chan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/everyday-movement-by-gigi-l.-leung-translated-by-jennifer-feeley-.jpg?w=993)
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Editor’s note: Leslie Shimotakahara reflects on how a childhood encounter with an institutionalised great-uncle, silenced by internment-era injustice, became her latest novel The Breakwater. She recounts research, family reticence, editorial reshaping, and the imaginative recovery of erased places, presenting writing…
![[ESSAY] βFrom Scrapbooking to Novel Writing: Giving Voice to an Unsettling Family Secret in πβπ π΅πππππ€ππ‘ππβ by Leslie Shimotakahara](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/leslieshimotakahara_photo.jpg?w=1024)
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Read Leslie Shimotakahara’s essay on the writing of The Breakwater HERE. [EXCERPT] βFrom The Breakwaterβ by Leslie Shimotakahara Leslie Shimotakahara, The Breakwater, Cormorant Books, 2026. 350 pgs. I wasnβt a week past my seventeenth birthday. Freshly kicked out of the…
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [ESSAY] βWe Are What We Read: Reading Zheng Liuβs Cultural Mavericksβ by X. H. Collins Click HERE to readΒ all entries inΒ ChaΒ onΒ Cultural Mavericks. Zheng Liu, Cultural Mavericks: The Business and Politics of…
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS Editor’s note: Jason S Polley opens his review essay by recounting his fond and fervent championing of Kit Fanβs first novel, Diamond Hill (2021), whose Cantonese-inflected language enabled rare intergenerational and…
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [ESSAY] “Shelves, Stories, and Silence: Reading Zheng Liu’s Cultural Mavericks” by Laurence Westwood ClickΒ HERE to readΒ all entries inΒ ChaΒ onΒ Cultural Mavericks. Zheng Liu, Cultural Mavericks: The Business and Politics of Independent Bookselling in…
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Editor’s note: Julien Pieronβs essay examines Sophie Houdartβs Ce territoire qui, comme une pulsationβ¦ (Γditions des mondes Γ faire, 2026), an ethnographic study of post-Fukushima life in TΕwa that portrays a world where catastrophe persists as an unclosed present. Through…
![[ESSAY] βLife in the Persistence of Fukushima: Sophie Houdartβs πΆπ π‘πππππ‘ππππ ππ’π, πππππ π’ππ ππ’ππ ππ‘πππβ¦β by Julien PieronΒ](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/maf_houdart_scan_01-resp2880.jpg?w=1024)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Inheritance and Reinvention in Kit Fanβs Goodbye Chinatown” by Jennifer Eagleton Click HERE to read all entries in Chaon Goodbye Chinatown. Kit Fan, Goodbye Chinatown, World Editions, 2026. 268 pgs.…
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Metamorphosis and Memory in Dorothy Tse’s City Like Water” by Jonathan Han Dorothy Tse (author), Natascha Bruce (translator). City Like Water, Graywolf Press, 2026. 112 pgs. Dorothy Tseβs City…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Metamorphosis and Memory in Dorothy Tse’s πΆππ‘π¦ πΏπππ πππ‘ππ” by Jonathan Han](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/city-like-water-dorothy-tse-cha-an-asian-literary-journal.jpg?w=1000)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [ESSAY] “Bittersweet Fusion: Taste, Pain, and Fate in Kit Fan’s Goodbye Chinatown” by Angus Stewart Click HERE to read all entries in Chaon Goodbye Chinatown. Kit Fan, Goodbye Chinatown, World Editions,…
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] βThe Shame Economy: Caste as Currency in Mulk Raj Anandβs Untouchableβ by Abhinav Tulachan Mulk Raj Anand, Untouchable, Wishart Books Ltd., 1935. 160 pgs. βIn a country where caste is…
![[REVIEW] βThe Shame Economy: Caste as Currency in Mulk Raj Anandβs πππ‘ππ’πβππππβ by Abhinav Tulachan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/untouchable-mulk-raj-anand-1.jpg?w=979)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βOf Mirth-merchants and Humour Literature: Ankit Raj Ojhaβs The Bare Bones Book of Humourβ by Pradip Mondal Ankit Raj Ojha (editor), The Bare Bones Book of Humour, Bare Bones…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βOf Mirth-merchants and Humour Literature: Ankit Raj Ojhaβs πβπ π΅πππ π΅ππππ π΅πππ ππ π»π’πππ’πβ by Pradip Mondal](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/https-__barebonespublishing.in_product_the-bare-bones-book-of-humour_.png?w=1024)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] βCultivating the Infinite: The Art and Spiritual Vision of Zhao Hai Tienβ by Jennifer Eagleton Zhao Hai Tien, Cultivation: The Art of Zhao Hai Tien, University of Hong Kong Press,…
![[REVIEW] βCultivating the Infinite: The Art and Spiritual Vision of Zhao Hai Tienβ by Jennifer Eagleton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/https-__www.haitienart.com_.webp?w=1024)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βWhat We Keep: Memory, Migration, and Survival in M Lin’s The Memory Museumβ by Susan Blumberg-Kason M Lin, The Memory Museum, Graywolf Press. 2026. 272 pgs. Nostalgia is a…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “What We Keep: Memory, Migration, and Survival in M Lin’s πβπ ππππππ¦ ππ’π ππ’π” by Susan Blumberg-Kason](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/memory-museum-m-lin-cha-asian.jpg?w=1000)
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Editor’s note: Chaβs long-term contributor Matt Turner introduces 6AMING, his forthcoming poetry book from Antiphony, due in September. In this short essay, he discusses time-stamped automatic writing, no-music influence, not-poetry, underground journals, and resistance to spectacle, surveillance, and institutional validation.…
![[ESSAY] βNO U-TURNβ6π΄ππΌππΊ: Themes and Contextsβ by Matt Turner](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/matt-turner-6aming-cha-asian.png?w=637)
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Read Matt Turner’s essay “NO U-TURNβ6AMING: Themes and Contexts” HERE. [EXCLUSIVE] “Eight Poems from 6AMING” by Matt Turner Photograph Β© Wang Yin 8:38-3:11 pressed against, side to sidethe shelterβhidden, aggrievedunder a constant temperaturelittle balls of bone and eyerunning around, pouring…
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Off-Kilter Worlds and Authoritarian Futures in Ysabelle Cheung’s Patchwork Dolls” by Jennifer Eagleton Ysabelle Cheung, Patchwork Dolls, Blair, 2026. 200 pgs. Ysabelle Cheungβs stories are clearly connected to contemporary society,…
![[REVIEW] “Off-Kilter Worlds and Authoritarian Futures in Ysabelle Cheung’s πππ‘πβπ€πππ π·ππππ ” by Jennifer Eagleton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/patchwork-dolls.webp?w=1024)
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θΆ FIθΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Gigi L. Leungβs Everyday Movement and the Human Texture of Protest” by Jennifer Eagleton Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Everyday Movement. Gigi L. Leung (author), Jennifer Feeley (translator), Everyday Movement,…
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βEveryday Movement: Gigi L. Leungβs Love Letter to Hong Kongβ by Susan Blumberg-Kason ClickΒ HERE to readΒ all entries inΒ ChaΒ onΒ Everyday Movement. Gigi L. Leung (author), Jennifer Feeley (translator), Everyday Movement, Riverhead…
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There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
![Protected: [REVIEW] βNo Useless Poems: Tsering Woeserβs Greater Tibetβ by Angus Stewart](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/ocean-as-much-as-rain-stories-lyrical-prose-and-poems-from-tibet.jpg?w=1000)
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