12 March 2016

“The Mercenary Mandarin” in Hong Kong

2016-11-24T01:13:59+08:00March 12th, 2016|authors, china, events, new books, publishing|0 Comments

Guidebook writer David Leffman is heading back to remote parts of Guizhou province on Tuesday, to pick up the trail of William Mesny - the British-born "Mercenary Mandarin" who became a general in the Chinese army. But before he goes, he will be giving an illustrated talk about Mesny to the Royal Asiatic Society in the Centre for Visual Arts, [...]

19 December 2015

Kitchen Tiles: book launch event at the FCC, December 21

2015-12-20T17:52:30+08:00December 19th, 2015|hong kong, new books|0 Comments

Join us at Bert's Bar in the Foreign Correspondents' Club, 2 Lower Albert Road, Central, Hong Kong, for the launch of Kitchen Tiles by Feng Chi-shun. When: 6-9pm, Monday, December 21, 2015. Besides Kitchen Tiles, Feng's other books Diamond Hill and Hong Kong Noir will be on sale if you are looking for autographed stocking fillers. Hope to see you [...]

8 December 2015

Launch party for “Paul’s Records” at XXX, Dec 11

2015-12-10T21:49:14+08:00December 8th, 2015|events, hong kong, new books|0 Comments

A book launch party for Paul's Records: How a refugee from the Vietnam War found success selling vinyl on the streets of Hong Kong! Who: Both Paul Au and author Andrew Guthrie will be present, records from Paul’s vinyl store will be played, and the book will be explained/read from. There will be guest appearances by a few dedicated customers [...]

18 November 2015

New book: South China Morning Blues

2016-11-24T01:14:00+08:00November 18th, 2015|authors, new books|0 Comments

Press Release South China Morning Blues: Stories that detail a life in 21st century China for Asians and Gweilos alike China. To the rest of the world, it is a booming, menacing powerhouse that threatens to engulf everything with its ever growing economy. To those who reside in it, it is more complex than that. As the author of a [...]

16 October 2015

October newsletter

2019-07-12T02:24:56+08:00October 16th, 2015|hong kong, new books|0 Comments

We have three new books out this month. Read on! Share If you cannot view this email, please Click Here to view an online version. Unsubscribe/Update Profile | Share With Friends | Subscribe Blacksmith Books, Hong Kong Newsletter October 2015 Hong Kong war memoir: It Won't Be Long Now It Won’t Be Long Now: The Diary of a Hong Kong [...]

29 September 2015

Graham Heywood’s Hong Kong prisoner-of-war diary

2016-11-24T01:14:00+08:00September 29th, 2015|authors, hong kong, new books, publishing|0 Comments

I met up with Geoffrey Emerson, Hong Kong-based historian (left), and Shun Chi Ming, director of the Hong Kong Observatory (centre), to talk about the wartime diary of Graham Heywood. Over tea at the Observatory, a beautiful Victorian building hidden away on a forested hill in the middle of Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Geoff and CM explained how Heywood's diary [...]

20 July 2015

Shanghai’s Baghdadi Jews: An interview with the author

2016-11-24T01:14:02+08:00July 20th, 2015|authors, china, new books|0 Comments

"This book is a record of descendants of Baghdadi Jewish merchants who settled in the Treaty Port of Shanghai in the mid-19th century," says Maisie Meyer. "They are authentic voices, allowing us a glimpse of bygone days of privilege, and the rich diversity that made the community so vibrant. It offers infinite perspectives of personalities whose lives were shaped by [...]

12 June 2015

Review: Street Life Hong Kong

2016-11-24T01:14:02+08:00June 12th, 2015|hong kong, new books|3 Comments

Scaffolders. Tram drivers. Recyclers. Sign holders. Hawkers. Shoe shiners. We see these workers every day in Hong Kong, and yet hardly ever realize it. They are mostly invisible — labourers who we are so used to seeing out on the streets that our minds often blur them out when we walk past them. Yet these workers often toil the hardest [...]

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 [...]

29 January 2015

Remembering the mighty Bruce Lee

2016-11-24T01:14:03+08:00January 29th, 2015|authors, book excerpt, hong kong, new books|1 Comment

Even four decades after the passing of Asian martial-arts superstar Bruce Lee, his achievements still attract adoration from millions of movie fans. The biggest fan of all may be Jon Benn, who befriended the high-kicking hero while playing “the Big Boss”, a villain in Lee’s acclaimed 1972 movie The Way of the Dragon. In Remembering Bruce Lee, a tell-tale autobiography, [...]

12 January 2015

Think of chopsticks as friends

2016-11-24T01:14:04+08:00January 12th, 2015|book excerpt, hong kong, new books|0 Comments

Fred Schneiter moved to Hong Kong in the 1960s and wasted no time in getting to know the food. Here’s a story and a recipe for Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce from his new book, The Taste of Old Hong Kong. If unaccustomed to chopsticks you’ll find the going easier—in initial encounters—simply by maintaining an affirmative attitude. Dismiss any thought [...]

1 January 2015

The Yunnan Cookbook: Dai Grilled Fish with Lemongrass

2015-07-12T13:16:49+08:00January 1st, 2015|book excerpt, china, new books|0 Comments

Dai grilled fish scented with lemongrass and fresh herbs is one of the great fish dishes of China's Yunnan province, alongside the Bai fish stew made with carp from Dali’s commanding Erhai Lake. The fish from Yunnan’s majestic lakes are generally highly prized. It is a land-locked province, and so it is unusual to find seafood and salt-water fish, but [...]

26 December 2014

Year of Fire Dragons on Radio 3

2016-11-24T01:14:04+08:00December 26th, 2014|authors, hong kong, media attention, new books|0 Comments

Author Shannon Young visited the studios of RTHK Radio 3 to tell Noreen Mir about the making of her latest book, Year of Fire Dragons. Her new memoir is a wide-eyed newcomer’s account of Hong Kong wrapped up in an international long distance love story. Click here to listen online to the 10-minute interview. When she's not writing books, Shannon [...]

21 December 2014

The Taste of Old Hong Kong: Suki’s clams

2016-11-24T01:14:04+08:00December 21st, 2014|book excerpt, hong kong, new books|0 Comments

Fred Schneiter moved to Hong Kong in the 1960s and wasted no time in getting to know the food. Here's a recipe (and a reminiscence) from the old Causeway Bay typhoon shelter. It appears in his new book, The Taste of Old Hong Kong. Living in one of the world’s major tourist destinations, the culinary epicenter of the China Seas [...]

17 November 2014

New Hong Kong memoir: Year of Fire Dragons

2015-07-13T01:23:26+08:00November 17th, 2014|authors, hong kong, new books|0 Comments

An American Woman’s Story of Coming of Age in Hong Kong n 2010, bookish 22-year-old Shannon follows her Eurasian boyfriend to Hong Kong, eager to forge a new love story in his hometown. But when work sends him to London a month later, Shannon embarks on a wide-eyed newcomer's journey through Hong Kong – alone. She teaches in a local [...]

17 September 2014

The Taste of Old Hong Kong

2016-11-24T01:14:04+08:00September 17th, 2014|authors, hong kong, new books|0 Comments

Look at the picture. That's our author Fred Schneiter and his children, on their arrival in Hong Kong at Chinese New Year in 1964. Fred has written a combination of cookbook and memoir that includes 70 of the best recipes he collected over his three decades roaming the China coast, with a mix of adventurous and nostalgic stories thrown in. [...]