Vittachi

Inspiration for writers

ROUND UP: Broadcasters interested in Asian creativity, student wins US book deal, and a funny new angle on the HK literary festival dust-up
*
BE INSPIRED. I've been cheered by several delightful things today. I had a lengthy interview on The Book Show (ABC Australia) this morning about happenings in the Asia literary scene. It’s brilliant that the world is interested in creative outpourings in this part of the world. So, anyone with a link to Asia or an interest in Asia or an address in Asia, be  inspired write! Your time has come.

A call for solutions

THE CASE OF THE BACKSTABBED CRIME WRITER continues to resonate. A top Hong Kong press relations officer today offered a roadmap for peace at the strife-torn Hong Kong literary festival. The views contained in the document are not necessarily shared or supported by Nury Vittachi or anyone else at this website and is offered in the interests of free speech only. It can be downloaded as a Word document by clicking the link directly below or you can read it in blog format by pressing the "continue" line underneath that.

Download solving_the_problems.doc

Transcript of RTHK debate

THE ANTICS OF the Hong Kong Gorefest Board, I mean, Hong Kong Litfest Board, continue to attract media attention -- to wit, a live discussion on RTHK Radio Three this morning.

Racism Row goes global

Bloggers and blog-readers -- our recent discussion has today become international news!

Global newswires and newspapers all over the place (a full page in The Straits Times, Singapore's main paper) are carrying the HK litfest racism story, first broken by this and other blogs. Several of the quotes used to tell the story are actually lifted from this blog. The way the story broke is a small but incredibly important revolution in how society learns news.

Click the "continue" link below to read the version of the tale carried by the world's oldest news agency, Agence France Presse, a report just a few hours old:

End of the affair

THE AFFAIR of the backstabbed crime writer appears to be reaching its denouement. The meeting at which the festival board was set to sack co-founder Nury Vittachi was scheduled to take place this morning. Vittachi did not attend, but sent a letter by fax and email to the board members. If you want to move along to happier things, ignore this posting. If you want to see what it said, read on.

Literary Mayhem in Hong Kong

That Feb 1 2007 "AsiaSentinel.com" article in full:

  The Case of the Backstabbed Crime Writer stars Nury Vittachi as The Victim and Hong Kong’s literary mavens and marketers as The Villains. Or vice versa

Mr Jam Gets Sentinelled

OUCH! I've been Asia-Sentineled.
    Your humble narrator (yeah, the "humble" is meant ironically) has just learned that his little contretemps with his fellow HK Litfest organizers is lampooned in www.AsiaSentinel.com, a news website that has been stirring things up in Asia recently.
   

J'accuse

Received this morning from a novelist based in the West:

Dear Nury,

You’re a novelist. So I am.

So you can immediately see the big hole in the plot of the mystery about the scandalous goings-on at the literary festival.

You’ve been tried and found guilty by the very people you brought in to help you manage it. But what are you guilty of?

There’s no crime.

Racism Row Splits Festival

By a special correspondent
Hong Kong, January 2007

ASIAN AUTHOR Nury Vittachi, co-founder of the Hong Kong Literary Festival, is to be sacked by the organization’s board in a row about racial insensitivity and improper business links.

            The novelist, probably Hong Kong’s biggest literary export, alleges that the board fired him after he complained about racism and urged that “questionable business practices” be reformed.