Our Stories @ ENG: A series in which teaching staff and students share their memories of the ENG Department to coincide with the 60th Anniversary of the department. [Read all entries.] [Revisit the “Pride of Place” series.] [Revisit the “Pet Sounds” series.] [Revisit the “Headspace” series.] [Revisit the “Ongoing” series.] [Revisit the “Interrogative” series.] Curmudgeon…
Category: creative
Pride of Place: Stuart Christie
Pride of Place: A series in which teaching staff and students from the English Department reflect on a place in Hong Kong. [Read all entries.] [Revisit the “Pet Sounds” series.] [Revisit the “Headspace” series.] [Revisit the “Ongoing” series.] [Revisit the “Interrogative” series.] . . Pride —for Genevieve (upon the occasion of her birthday) . All…
Pride of Place: Gladys Lam
Pride of Place: A series in which teaching staff and students from the English Department reflect on a place in Hong Kong. [Read all entries.] [Revisit the “Pet Sounds” series.] [Revisit the “Headspace” series.] [Revisit the “Ongoing” series.] [Revisit the “Interrogative” series.] . A place of calm— I used to share my secrets to the…
Pride of Place: Nicole Lai
Pride of Place: A series in which teaching staff and students from the English Department reflect on a place in Hong Kong. [Read all entries.] [Revisit the “Pet Sounds” series.] [Revisit the “Headspace” series.] [Revisit the “Ongoing” series.] [Revisit the “Interrogative” series.] Some of us work hard inside it For different reasons Some of us…
Pride of Place: Jeff Chow
Pride of Place: A series in which teaching staff and students from the English Department reflect on a place in Hong Kong. [Read all entries.] [Revisit the “Pet Sounds” series.] [Revisit the “Headspace” series.] [Revisit the “Ongoing” series.] [Revisit the “Interrogative” series.] Hong Kong: Station Finally, we are marching in democratic spirit, to have our…
Pride of Place: Cheng Tim Tim
Pride of Place: A series in which teaching staff and students from the English Department reflect on a place in Hong Kong. [Read all entries.] [Revisit the “Pet Sounds” series.] [Revisit the “Headspace” series.] [Revisit the “Ongoing” series.] [Revisit the “Interrogative” series.] Tap In, Tap Out It was the blue wall on the Black Cloth…
“A Girl and an Old Woman” by He Yue Hazel
Editor’s note: This is a play in response to the photograph above by Alex Webb, for the ENG Department’s course Genremorphosis. A girl and an old woman, inside a screened porch. The girl is standing, the woman is next to her, sitting and staring at the ground. They seem to be both thinking. They are facing…
“The Fishy Return of Richard Strickland” by Daisy Lam and Eadgyth Lui
I don’t know why I am here. But I guess I have been summoned by the recent release of a film which happens to be an appropriation of my life—and which I do not like. The film, a take on a Beauty and the Beast-kind of love story between a gill-god fishman amphibious creature and…
“Sylvia and Chester, I’m in” by Nicole Lai
I want to follow you two But I’m not so sure Is this my cure? I will make no cry So no one would ask why Read Sylvia’s Listen to Chester’s Then you can feel How much we wanted to heal And how much we wanted to kill My heart aches Or suffocates I don’t…
“She Waits” by Pamela Wong
It is a Tuesday in the blue winter. As she walks in and sits down, as usual, on this maroon seat in this shadowless corner, the barista, knowing that she stays for a whole afternoon, has served her an espresso, and she knows it’s her last one today. She never gives a careful look…
“The English Lesson” by Justin Yeung
PART 1: THE HANDOVER I never wanted to be back. If it wasn’t for her call from last week, I wouldn’t be waiting in this crowded line to get into Iciria. I shouldn’t have left Pearl alone. I was shocked when she whispered the news to me on the phone. “I’m Lee’s now, come back…
Announcement: Members of the ENG Department Join the Cha Writing Workshop Series
Three teaching staff from the Department of English, Tammy Lai-Ming Ho (Assistant Professor), Jason S Polley (Associate Professor) and Lian-Hee Wee (Professor) have joined the Cha Writing Workshop Series as mentors to run workshops for local schoolchildren and economically disadvantaged groups in the city. The series is supported by the English Departments at The Chinese University of…
“The Web” by Justin Yeung
No one can get out of this There were many before me No matter a her or him There’s nothing that sets them free You can run but you can’t hide Turn to your Gods, old and new Why be afraid, my dearest? It hurts a bit, the first time I closed my eyes to…
Announcement: Poetry and Fiction Writing Opportunities for ENG Students
Hong Kong Baptist University’s English Poetry Contest (Unpublished Work) 2017, co-organised by the Department of English, the Department of Humanities and Creative Writing, and the International Writers Workshop (IWW), is now accepting entries. All students who submit poems will have the opportunity to join a workshop with two IWW visiting writers. Please read the guidelines…
Announcement: Lian-Hee Wee of the ENG Department is a featured speaker at PEN Hong Kong’s human rights reading
On September 6th (Wednesday), PEN Hong Kong will be hosting an informal bilingual reading (Cantonese and English) as part of the International Literature Festival Berlin (ILB). The speakers will be introducing and reading something of their own choosing on the subject of human rights. This event especially welcomes writers interested in joining PEN Hong Kong to attend. Lian-Hee Wee, Professor at…
Pet Sounds: Zabrina Lo
Pet Sounds: A series in which teaching staff and students from the English Department reflect on a piece of music or song. [Read all entries.] [Revisit the “Headspace” series.] [Revisit the “Ongoing” series.] [Revisit the “Interrogative” series.] Shower Plays Reality was a robe I could peel off as I slithered into the bathtub to savour…
Pet Sounds: Jeff Chow
Pet Sounds: A series in which teaching staff and students from the English Department reflect on a piece of music or song. [Read all entries.] [Revisit the “Headspace” series.] [Revisit the “Ongoing” series.] [Revisit the “Interrogative” series.] Photograph: Jeff Chow Forgotten Song in Spanish She turns on the radio, listens to it from the balcony,…
“Routine Application” by William Ng
The printer, sheet after sheet, roars off another batch of applicants in the Pre-Interview Processing zone. For the first time a full-screen dialogue box pops up on the screen of his laptop – COLLECT FORMS. He floats down the grey-carpeted corridor past the cubicles of others, retrieves his ream of ivory-coloured forms, and retreats to…
“The Broken One” by Naterlie Ip, by Christy Leung, Leo Lau and Charis Yeung
Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a longer adaptation of Tennessee Williams’s The Glass Menagerie (1944). . (Laura stands at the centre of the stage. Tom and Amanda enter the stage and stand at either sides of Laura. All three solemnly face the audience. Amanda is spotlit.) Amanda: It was the first and last time…
Announcement: Tammy Lai-Ming Ho will be co-editing Twin Cities, a collection of poetry from Hong Kong and Singapore
Perhaps Hong Kong is a city of cinema. From the neo-noir neon stylings of Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, to the stylised longing of early Wong Kar Wai, through the boom years of Cinema City and larger-than-life film stars, she has played host to countless cinematic moments with her cosmopolitan beauty. And perhaps Singapore is a…
“Comics and Graphic Narratives; or, The Art of the Matter” by Jason S Polley
The fourth-year English course “Comics and Graphic Narratives”, a title as ambiguous as, say, “Short Stories and Novels”, and even the more equivocal “Prose Fiction”, is organised into several unstable thematic groupings: underground comics (or comix), revisionist narratives within the mainstream, memoirs & confessionals, new journalism, and auteur comics. The texts most recently selected for…
“Red Butterfly” by Victoria Ip
. Son of the tailor to old Hollywood heartthrobs Every performance of yours was The most precisely made suit Like the rouge lipstick Fleur meticulously put on Starched collars protected your suggestive voice All buttons fastened like your best-kept secrets The bow-tie was your red butterfly Unashamed of her beauty She gently landed on…
“The Sun and The Moon On October 25” by Jeff Chow
On 25 October my grandma passed away and I remember the sun felt peculiar. Sitting at a computer finishing up my essay, I received a call from an unknown number. It was my father calling on my cousin’s mobile. “Your grandma passed away just now. She left in peace,” he said with his usual calmness….
“Circles” by Katie Wong
::::: Katie Wong is a final-year student studying in the Department of English Language and Literature (Class of 2017). She is currently researching on the semiotics of book covers.
“Red Leaves for Diane” by Victoria Ip
For every single memory Has become a part of me —George Michael, “Jesus to a Child” The online poetry collection Red Leaves is dedicated to the memory of my dear friend Diane—the reason why I started writing when I was 19 and haven’t stopped since. There are 14 poems in total, one for each year since I became…
“The Edge of Vast Shores” by Jason Eng Hun Lee
But now I only hear Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar, Retreating to the breath Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear And naked shingles of the world. —Matthew Arnold, “Dover Beach” Standing at the edge of vast shores I hear ancestor spirits invoke their unbidden siren call so the sea bursts as they command…
“It’s a Dog’s Life” by Magdalen Ki
Please allow me to introduce myself: my name is Golden, a dog by chance and a student by profession. Neither is my choice though, the first has much to do with fate, the second has something to do with the world I happen to live in. Given the number of certified professionals and the enthusiasm…
“All Those Moments” by Mignon Chiu
“Clack!”—my pen falls from the table of the lecture chair; I’ve dozed off with my hair— sometimes red, sometimes blue—on my face; here and there I find friends, laughter, footprints, knowledge greeting me from time to time; it is not rare to see people exposing their toes to feel the breeze and the freeze with the…
“Father and Son” by Stuart Christie
Brian Kershisnik’s “Father and Son Dancing” I. Father Help me carry the aluminium siding, son. I lean a little too far this way. But for your careful arm, I might fall over. It wasn’t Mao’s fault I helped those tigers fly over the mountain. Brave, kind, and foolish Americans—they couldn’t even read a character! I…
Announcement: Members of the ENG Department will read at Hong Kong’s #WRITERSRESIST
Throughout the US and in other countries, writers are organizing their own Writers Resist events on Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, January 15, 2017. Invited speakers will read from a curated selection of diverse writers’ voices that speak to the ideals of Democracy and free expression. The public is encouraged to attend. —WRITERS RESIST On…
Department of English, Hong Kong Baptist University 