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Tammy Ho Lai-Ming is the founding co-editor of Cha, the vice president of PEN Hong Kong, the English editor of Voice & Verse Poetry Magazine, and a former associate professor at Hong Kong Baptist University. She is also an editor of the academic journal Hong Kong Studies and has edited or co-edited eight volumes of poetry, fiction and essays, including Desde Hong Kong (2014), Quixotica: Poems East of La Mancha (2016), We, Now, Here, There, Together (2017), and Twin Cities (2017). In 2015-2016, she co-directed the Hong Kong Budding Poets Award Programme (in collaboration with the Education Bureau and the Academy of Gifted Education). Tammy’s translations have been published in World Literature Today, Chinese Literature Today, Drunken Boat and Pathlight and by the Chinese University Press. She is a winner of the Young Artist Award in Literary Arts, presented by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, and her first poetry collection is Hula Hooping (2015). Visit her website for more information. (Photograph by Sha’ianne Molas Lawas)Tammy: At Hong Kong Baptist University, I teach drama, poetics, and fiction. I have run poetry workshops for college-level students in Hong Kong and younger students in Macau. I am interested in leading poetry and/or translation workshops for all age groups, and particularly for learners who are often overlooked by other projects or programmes.
Henrik: I’m happy to teach any age, but will probably resonate most with older kids.
Antony: I have years of experience in designing courses, teaching, and running workshops. Teaching at the Chinese University of Hong Kong for three years, I designed and taught a creative writing course, and taught a wide range of academic writing courses. Now studying at the University of York, I teach a modern literature module, serve as a senior tutor at the Writing Centre, and run academic research workshops for prospective university students. Given my experience, I would be interested in teaching secondary school and college students in Hong Kong. Having taught IELTS preparation courses to adults for a year, I am also confident in teaching members of the public as well.
Canadian poet Akin Jeje lives in Hong Kong. His first full-length poetry collection, Smoked Pearl: Poems of Hong Kong and Beyond, was long-listed for the 2009 International Proverse Prize, and published by Proverse Hong Kong in 2010. His most recent publications, “Reach” and “Wasted”, were in the special #WRITERSRESIST edition of Hong Kong’s Voice and Verse Poetry Magazine in 2017. He is currently at work on another full-length poetry collection tentatively entitled Never Land. Jeje is a regular performer at Hong Kong’s Poetry OutLoud Hong Kong, one of the previous MCs of Peel Street Poetry, and now one of its three directors.
Akin: As a long-time educator, I am open to teaching secondary school students as well as primary students how to express themselves through creative writing. Specifically, I would like to host workshops where students can create performance and spoken word poetry, for them to be able to embody their works, and to understand creative writing and poetry in English as fun and creative vehicles for self-expression. In fact, I have run poetry seminars for secondary school students, and teach simple poetry to both my own primary school students as well as other students in the city, and welcome the opportunity to do so with Cha.
[READ Jason’s reflections on his Cha workshops here.]
Jason Y. Ng is a bestselling author, news columnist, and adjunct law professor at the University of Hong Kong. He is the President of PEN Hong Kong, the local chapter of PEN International which promotes literature and defends the freedom of expression around the world. For years, Ng has been an outspoken advocate for the rights of foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong, writing extensively about the challenges they face and working with support groups including Enrich Hong Kong, Help for Domestic Workers, the Wimler Foundation and Pathfinders Hong Kong. For more, visit www.jasonyng.com.
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Collier: Often, schools treat creative writing in English as something that only students who are already fluent in the language can or should do. On the contrary, I’ve found that creative writing, particularly poetry and storytelling, can help students develop a sense of ownership of English that they don’t always gain from their grammar and reading lessons. I enjoy working with all ages, from primary students to adults, and I am particularly glad to work with students in Band 2 and 3 schools and other people who are infrequently served by Education Bureau programming and other initiatives.
Michael: I taught at Christian Action in Hong Kong as a volunteer for about a year—mainly teaching asylum seekers—and I’d be very interested in providing workshops for underprivileged groups in Hong Kong and for students in Band 2 and Band 3 schools. I could offer to do workshops on basic English skills, email-writing, reading, writing and communication skills, CV-writing, research skills, essay-writing and also on creative writing and life-writing. I have taught these skills in the US, the UK and in Japan where I was a writing co-ordinator for 2-3 years.
Jason: My teaching career began almost two decades ago in primary school ESL classrooms both in Guangzhou and Hong Kong. I’d like to return to local early primary milieux. I hope to integrate the wordplay and jocoseriousness and care of verse and comics into local students’ early learning—and thinking and (self-)reflection.
[READ Kate’s reflections on her Cha workshops here.]
In 2017, Kate Rogers’ poetry collection, Out of Place (Aeolus House–Quattro Books), has debuted in Toronto, Hong Kong and at the 2017 Singapore Writers Festival. Kate was shortlisted for the 2017 Montreal International Poetry Prize. Her poetry is forthcoming in Catherines, the Great (Oolichan) and has appeared in Twin Cities: An Anthology of Twin Cinema from Singapore and Hong Kong (Landmark Books, 2017); Juniper; OfZoos; The Guardian; Asia Literary Review; Cha; Morel; The Goose: a journal of Arts, Environment and Culture; Kyoto Journal and Asiatic: An International Journal of Asian Literatures, Cultures and Englishes. She lectures in literature and media studies at the Community College of City University.
Kate: I’ve spent eleven years developing language through literature with creative writing courses which reflect the diversity of Asian writers in English. At the Community College of City University students from many cultural backgrounds often connect with poetry for the first time through our literature courses. I would like to foster creative self-expression for youth from communities seeking a voice in Hong Kong.
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Ilaria Maria Sala is an award winning writer and journalist, with a long experience as an author of narrative non-fiction—in book form and for magazine and newspaper articles. Her writing has appeared in English on the New York Times, ChinaFiles, Quartz, and the Guardian, and many other publications. She has also been writing in French (Le Monde), in Italian (La Stampa, Una Città), and Spanish (El Periodico, EFE). She has taught various writing workshops, in Italy and Hong Kong (at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the University of Hong Kong), on feature writing and journaling (Udine Far East Festival and other literary events). Her books are collections of long features about Asia, popular religion, and everyday life.
Ilaria: I would be interested in teaching ALL levels and everyone.
Chris Song was born in Guangdong China and is now based in Hong Kong. He is the Executive Director of the International Poetry Nights in Hong Kong, Editor-in-Chief of Voice & Verse Poetry Magazine《聲韻詩刊》, and Associate Series-editor of the Association of Stories in Macao (ASM). He was poet/translator in residence at Bundanon NSW (2010-2011). In 2013, he won Nosside International Poetry Prize (Italy), Extraordinary Mention. Chris has published two books of poems and twenty-some books of poetry translation. He currently works at the Centre for Humanities Research of Lingnan University as Assistant Editor of Journal of Modern Literature in Chinese, and is completing his part-time PhD in Translation Studies at the same university.
Chris: I am interested in leading Chinese-English poetry translation workshops for college-level students, especially for those who feel less confident in translating literary texts.
Eddie: While I could teach primary school students as well, I prefer to conduct workshops that combine street photography and creative writing elements for upper secondary students or adults.
[READ Lian-Hee’s reflections on his Cha workshops here.]
Lian-Hee Wee is (co-)author or (co-)editor of eight books and numerous research articles. His most notable publications include the monograph Phonological Tone (Cambridge University Press, to appear) and the journal article “Tone Assignment in Hong Kong English” published in Language (2016). Lian-Hee’s work unravels patterns in Chinese languages as well as Asian varieties of English such as those spoken in Singapore and Hong Kong. He taught at the Department of Chinese Studies at the National University of Singapore and is now Professor of Linguistics at the Hong Kong Baptist University. He is the founding director of Bilingual Improv Brigade which is probably the world’s first Chinese-English bilingual Improv Comedy Group. He dabbles with music, poetry, and animal activism.
Lian-Hee: I focus on finding the natural and authentic voice of the individual for expressive speech and writing. This can be done through creative activities that include improvisation and theatrical games. I can run workshops in English, Cantonese and Putonghua.
Marco Yan is a Hong Kong-born poet, whose works recently appeared in Diode Poetry Journal, the Adroit Journal, Louisville Review and more. He holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing from the University of Hong Kong and a Master of Fine Arts degree in poetry from New York University. Visit Marco’s website for more information.
Marco: When it comes to leading workshops, I particularly enjoy guiding writers to generate raw materials for potential poems, understand prosody and the use of structure and form, and edit and revise their current works. I am willing to teach any age groups, but I do have more experience teaching high-school and college students.
Cha 