14 December 2023

Royal Asiatic Society journal review: The Last Tigers of Hong Kong

2023-12-14T17:38:32+08:00December 14th, 2023|media attention, publishing|0 Comments

The Last Tigers of Hong Kong by John Saeki Reviewed by Thomas Gomersall in the 2023 Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong ***** As a lifelong wildlife enthusiast, and a more recent history enthusiast, I find it striking how rarely we seem to examine the two side-by-side, given our long association with animals through the ages. As an [...]

26 January 2023

The Blacksmith Books story: a short film

2023-01-26T21:46:42+08:00January 26th, 2023|media attention, publishing|0 Comments

Nine River Films is a Hong Kong-based production company which makes feature films and short documentaries. I was pleased to be interviewed by them about the challenges and pleasures of book publishing. I picked a few of the books we have published over the years and explained what they tell us about Hong Kong's people and history. You can watch [...]

10 June 2022

Podcast: Mark Isaac-Williams, The Hong Kong I Knew

2022-06-10T00:51:24+08:00June 10th, 2022|authors, hong kong, media attention, new books|0 Comments

Returning to Hong Kong in 1947 after the Japanese occupation, seven-year-old Mark Isaac-Williams had the whole of Kowloon as his playground. Billeted with his family in the once-grand but now dilapidated Peninsula hotel, his life was full of adventure – from the rooftop to the basement, he knew the hotel’s every inch. Roller-skating and horseback riding in Kowloon’s streets and [...]

20 February 2020

Video: “Spatial Cemetery” is a visual journey beneath the surface of hidden Hong Kong

2020-02-19T23:10:33+08:00February 20th, 2020|hong kong, media attention, new books|0 Comments

"Urbex" is shorthand for "urban exploration", and HK Urbex are a group of anonymous, adrenaline-fuelled explorers who investigate the hidden, abandoned and forgotten corners of Hong Kong. Their first book is out now. "HK Urbex is an underground collective that documents deserted, off-limits spaces, its photographers protecting their identities with hats, hoods, masks and pseudonyms," says the South China Morning [...]

5 March 2019

Paul French on his new book: Destination Shanghai

2019-03-04T20:54:35+08:00March 5th, 2019|authors, book excerpt, china, media attention|0 Comments

Ahead of his appearance at the Shanghai International Literary Festival this month, Paul French shares a snippet of his new book, Destination Shanghai. He'll be presenting a session on March 23 at 4pm.  How well do you know your old Shanghai sojourners? Over the decades so many foreigners – rich, poor; famous, infamous; European, American; dodgy, legit – came to Shanghai. It’s hard to [...]

21 January 2019

The makings of a civil service mandarin: a review of “Hong Kong Confidential”

2019-01-21T18:48:26+08:00January 21st, 2019|media attention|0 Comments

Malaysia-based journalist Terence Netto has reviewed the third volume of David T. K. Wong's family memoir. Sometimes the arrival of a book dovetails nicely with an issue that's sparking in the public arena. Such is Hong Kong Confidential: Life as a Subversive by David TK Wong, a Hong Kong-born author living out his sunset years in Kuala Lumpur. Wong served 21 [...]

9 April 2018

In pictures: the history of Hong Kong’s Victoria Peak

2018-04-22T22:50:46+08:00April 9th, 2018|hong kong, media attention|0 Comments

Our new book The Peak: An Illustrated History of Hong Kong’s Top District has just been reviewed in the South China Morning Post. The area’s evolution is brought to life in The Peak through the use of an impressive 140 pictures, including early paintings showing The Peak towering over the young colony, photographs of the first Peak mansions such as The [...]

19 March 2018

What is an expat, and what is an immigrant?

2018-03-19T15:40:14+08:00March 19th, 2018|authors, media attention|0 Comments

Why do people come to Hong Kong, and why do they often plan a stay of three weeks and then stay for 20 years? David Nunan has interviewed 74 residents to try to get an idea of what they have gained from Hong Kong, and how it has changed them. These were 38 men and 36 women, ranging in age [...]

12 February 2018

Podcast: How to write a page-turning memoir that agents and publishers will love

2018-02-12T23:11:56+08:00February 12th, 2018|media attention, publishing|0 Comments

Glenn Leibowitz is the host of Write With Impact. In his latest podcast he interviews former American diplomat Syd Goldsmith, author of Hong Kong on the Brink, a memoir of Hong Kong's brush with the Cultural Revolution in 1967. Glenn says: In our conversation, which we conducted in person in Taipei, Syd shares how, despite never considering himself a writer [...]

25 January 2018

Hong Kong crime files: the siege of Gresson Street

2018-02-13T13:28:47+08:00January 25th, 2018|hong kong, media attention, publishing|0 Comments

The Gresson Street gunfight happened in Wan Chai 100 years ago this week. Why has it been forgotten for so long? Patricia O'Sullivan has spent a decade digging out the full story for her book, Policing Hong Kong – An Irish History. Now, Stuart Heaver has written a feature about the event. A running gunfight was now played out in [...]

10 January 2018

Podcast: How British adventurer William Mesny became a general in Qing-dynasty China

2018-01-09T17:40:53+08:00January 10th, 2018|authors, media attention|0 Comments

If it's not one royal society, it's another. Have no fear, if you missed David Leffman's talk about William Mesny at the Royal Geographical Society in Hong Kong last year, you can listen in to the talk he gave to the Royal Asiatic Society in London in December. David has been visiting China as a travel writer for 25 years, [...]

4 January 2018

Chinese Ghosts Revisited: podcast and review

2018-01-03T23:31:39+08:00January 4th, 2018|media attention, new books|0 Comments

Charles Emmons' book Chinese Ghosts Revisited: A Study of Paranormal Beliefs and Experiences came out just before Hallowe'en last year, and hopefully many people have enjoyed finding a spooky read in their Christmas stockings. It has now been reviewed by New Dawn magazine. Chinese Ghosts Revisited holds the unique position of being the only reference work comparing the supernatural and [...]

21 October 2017

Northern Ireland to Hong Kong: A Tale of Drugs, Crime and Redemption

2019-08-24T23:53:07+08:00October 21st, 2017|authors, media attention|0 Comments

Eating Smoke author Chris Thrall is the subject of a fascinating new podcast on BFBS, the British Forces Broadcasting Service. 'Coming Home: Chris Thrall' is a feature-length story about addiction, redemption and recovery chronicling Royal Marine Chris Thrall's journey from Royal Marine Commando to a crystal meth addicted gang member of the notorious Hong Kong Triads. Chris joined the Royal [...]

11 May 2017

Podcast: Hong Kong on the Brink, An American Diplomat Relives 1967’s Darkest Days

2017-05-11T18:38:55+08:00May 11th, 2017|authors, hong kong, media attention, new books|0 Comments

Fifty years ago today, Syd Goldsmith was almost beaten to death by an angry mob in Hong Kong. On May 11, 1967, amid rumours of unrest at a factory, Syd, then a young US diplomat on his first offshore posting, was sent out into the streets to get a first-hand look. He quickly found himself in deep trouble amid the [...]

15 March 2017

Blacksmith Books publisher interviewed in the SCMP

2017-05-12T02:47:33+08:00March 15th, 2017|media attention, publishing|0 Comments

I was pleased to be interviewed about local book publishing by Elaine Yau of the South China Morning Post. We held the interview in the Blacksmith office in Fo Tan and then went to the roof of the industrial building next door for a fun photo shoot by Xiaomei Chen (who has some great photo essays on her website). "Hong [...]

10 November 2016

Trump knows tremendous China books when he sees them

2016-11-24T01:13:57+08:00November 10th, 2016|china, media attention|1 Comment

You're probably aware that Donald Trump was elected as US President yesterday. It's fair to say that reaction to this news has been mixed. But look on the bright side! He likes to read books about China. In an interview with Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency, Trump said, "I've read hundreds of books about China over the decades." "I [...]

5 October 2016

‘Eating Smoke’ is dramatised on RTHK Radio 3

2016-11-24T01:13:57+08:00October 5th, 2016|authors, hong kong, media attention|0 Comments

These days Chris Thrall is a successful author. But it wasn't always so. In the 1990s he left the Royal Marines to find his fortune in Hong Kong, but instead found himself homeless and hooked on crystal methamphetamine. In a downward spiral, he also began working for a triad society as a doorman in one of their nightclubs in Wan [...]

18 February 2015

Shannon Young on the radio

2015-07-12T05:10:35+08:00February 18th, 2015|authors, hong kong, media attention, new books|0 Comments

Our author Shannon Young has been interviewed on RTHK Radio 3 twice this month. Click the links below to listen online! 1. Shannon Young is a young American writer currently living in Hong Kong who writes under two names. Her travel memoir about the year she followed a man she met at a fencing club to Hong Kong, only for [...]