We’re proud to announce that our books will be available as of next month in Australia and New Zealand, through Central Book Services of Melbourne. If you’re located down under, please ask for our titles in any bookshop, and if they’re not in stock they will be able to order them in. Our Australian-Chinese author [...]

That was Caroline Chan’s question to author Liza Chu and I on her Connect2 programme on Radio 3. And what personality issues are involved in the development of a book? Find out by listening in at the RTHK website.

Tom Carter’s CHINA: Portrait of a People — with a new cover for its US release this month — is leading its Photography/Travel/Asia category on Amazon. Thanks to everyone who has bought a copy of this great little photo book.

As part of the “Ten Slow Days” exhibition at Hong Kong’s Fringe Club, a group of writers, publishers, designers and editors will be discussing what books mean to them, and how they go about creating them. Saturday 13th March, 2:30pm, Fringe Studio. Free admission. Enquiries: 3106 4010.

We’re now on Facebook, so you can find us there and sign up for our regular updates. It’s also your chance to write “i luv bookz lol” FB-style on our fan page. Thx!

What to believe? The story of Google’s threatened exit from China has occupied a lot of column inches over the past fortnight. On one hand, its stand has been lauded as principled by many people. On the other, it may just be a well timed PR stunt for the company; its reputation has been receiving [...]

I’m delighted to say that our titles will be available through bookshops in the United States and Canada as of June 2010. Our books will be handled on the other side of the Pacific by National Book Network. First up for the American market is With Bare Hands, since daredevil author Alain Robert has made [...]

The Hong Kong Book Fair — the week-long book sales event that drew 800,000 people last year — is on again as of today in Wan Chai’s Convention Centre. We’re taking a break this year and not manning a stand, but some of our titles can be found at Booth 1A01-26, in Hall 1. This [...]

The sudden publication of Zhao Ziyang’s hidden diaries, in time for the 20th anniversary of June 4th 1989, reminded me of the occasion a couple of years ago when a human rights barrister in Hong Kong went to print with a book about the right to demonstrate. The text covered examples of rallies and demonstrations [...]

Once shunned as the result of forbidden liaisons, and confined to set roles in society, Eurasians are now celebrated as models and actors, and find themselves ideally placed to take advantage of the growing commercial and cultural exchanges between Asia and the rest of the world. You might call it a Eu-turn in fortunes. Kirsteen [...]

Amid hordes of protesters at the G20 summit in London, one stood out above the rest: With Bare Hands author Alain Robert climbed the Lloyds Building to draw attention to climate change. The fearless wall crawler is also the subject of an in-depth feature story in the New Yorker this month, as well as stories [...]

On Saturday I attended a very enjoyable event at the Hong Kong International Literary Festival: a panel of three authors, Rana Dasgupta, Xujun Eberlein and Nam Le discussing the art of the short story. Moderator was Chris Wood of the Asia Literary Review. Thankfully not all the panellists agreed with one another, so there was [...]

I had the brainwave a year or so ago to start a joint blog with a few other publishers I’m friendly with in Hong Kong. Between us we have plenty of books, authors and events to write about, I thought. But as with so many things which require coordination, it didn’t really take off. Publishers [...]

This is an article I wrote for Reading Matters, the in-shop newsletter published by Bookazine, last month. ***** Here is the good news: Hong Kong has a thriving industry of independent publishers. Here is even better news: this is not London or New York, and most (if not all) presses are happy to receive manuscripts [...]

We’re celebrating the Year of the Rat by announcing that many of our fiction and non-fiction titles are now available through a wider set of online retailers: Amazon’s network of websites, Barnes & Noble, Target, Blackwell, Waterstones and many others. This is made possible by advances in print-on-demand technology; each book is printed to order. [...]

Or: Try before you buy. We’re emulating Amazon and Google by offering a sneak peek inside Blacksmith Books titles. Just click on the links on each book’s webpage to see sample spreads pop up in PDF format. Try it now by going here.

Asian publishing pundit Nury Vittachi says of our spy thriller: IN TERMS OF geopolitical value for money, Paul Ulrich’s new book Saudi Match Point has it all: Al-Qaeda, the Chinese government, oil wars, a high level US conspiracy, a hostage crisis and the battle between radical Islam and modern mores. Paul’s based in Hong Kong. [...]

A small crew of Hong Kong publishers worked hard at the three-day London Book Fair, but all agreed it was a worthy venture. A large portion of the global publishing community was packed into the Earl’s Court exhibition venue and you couldn’t pick a better place to make contacts.  The pub food wasn’t bad either.