This issue of The Hong Kong Review features poetry, short stories, excerpts of novel, creative non-fiction, portraits and photography, and includes work from Amina Gautier, Ana María Shua, Anuradha Bhowmik, Aracelis González Asendorf, Bárbara Pérez Curiel, Carlos Pintado, David Colodney, Dawn Marar, Elizabeth Lindsey Rogers, Erin Mcgraw, Fabienne Josaphat, Frances Negrón-Muntaner, Giorgio Viera, Hananah Zaheer, Hernán Vera Álvarez, Isabel Allende, Jayme Ringleb, Jonathan Duckworth, Kate Lesar, Katia D. Ulysse, Kelly O’rourke, Kim Turner, Lawrence Schimel, Lynne Barrett, Marci Calabretta Cancio-Bello, Marina Pruna Moré, Melanie Márquez Adams, Nancy Zafris, Nereida García Ferraz, Nicole Duggan, Pat Hurley, Pedro Medina León, Qiao Fuyuan, Sara Schlossman, Sasha Moghimi, Steven J. Stewart, Stewart O’nan, Tony Huang, and Yu Hsien.

 

 

Guest Editor's Note

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Welcome to the third issue of The Hong Kong Review (THKR). It has been my pleasure to serve as guest editor of a literary journal that is as focused on inclusiveness of voice and experience as it is on publishing literary quality, and I am so happy that you are here for it. 

 

A large part of what made the process so magical for me has to do with something founder Tony Huang says in THKR’s mission statement (which you can read in its entirety at hongkongreview.co):

 

“The development of critical theories, while definitely increasing the intellectual depth of literature and criticism, has inadvertently created distance between these theories and the general reading public. The Hong Kong Review takes it as part of its mission to bridge this divided world of literature and to make the dialogue between literary criticism and literary creation easy and essential again. We encourage the kind of criticism that combines the beauty of thought and the beauty of language, that helps bring the readers in, not drive them out, and that believes that literary criticism itself is a kind of literary creation.”

 

In other words, THKR aims to go deep, while keeping it real, clear and beautiful. Tony’s words connected with me in a powerful way, and I hope you will feel his mission in every writer represented here. Their work is international in scope, not so much because of the geography of the settings but because of the ranging perspectives. Their roots in Argentina—Peru—Cuba—the United States—Dubai—Haiti—Iran—Chile—Germany—Puerto Rico—Italy—South Korea—and Bangladesh bring depth and eloquence to the stories, poems, essays, novel excerpts, interviews, and portfolios collected here.

 

I hope you enjoy every single voice laid out before you. May each one challenge you, connect you, and fling you headfirst into these fresh and far-flung realities of human experience. Most importantly, may they inspire you—as they did me—to stop and feel, to feel so deeply that any notion of Otherness disappears.

 

With gratitude, 

Anjanette Delgado