Books
From Wolf Totem to the Three-Body Problem, her China publishing career
Jo Lusby recalls halcyon days in Beijing, early career success with Penguin that saw her handle books from Peter Rabbit to Michelle Obama’s memoir, and a move to Hong Kong. Now she’s dealing with another hit.
Book that reminded Hong Kong fashion founder to appreciate the small things
Reading The Joy of Small Things, a compilation of newspaper columns on the small pleasures in daily life, changed Rebecca Ling’s life. The lawyer and founder of womenswear brand Parallel 51 explains how.
He thought Chinese history was badly taught. So Hong Kong grandad wrote book
Through his book A Basic History of Ancient and Modern China, Hong Kong author Chui Chuen-shun aims to teach the millions of ethnically Chinese children in countries other than China about their roots.
How Mexico’s early Chinese migrants traded their way to success
In his book America’s Lost Chinese: The Rise and Fall of a Migrant Family Dream, Hugo Wong recounts how his forebears and fellow Chinese migrants in Mexico became a force in small business there.
How Gabriel Garcia Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude changed her life
As an art student, Hilarie Hon Hang-lam wanted to go against her professor’s wishes and paint for her final work. Reading Gabriel Garcia Márquez’s book convinced her to stick to her principles.
How writing memoir of Chinese-American ‘hero’ dad healed a daughter’s grief
The death of Alexandra Chan’s father, a Chinese-American engineer for Kodak, so devastated her she began writing a memoir of him, and learned that her grief ran far deeper than the death of a parent.
‘We need to have purpose’: Hong Kong NGO boss on helping others thrive
Leading the charity HandsOn Hong Kong was a scary prospect for Catherine Tong Dannaoui. The work of motivational speaker Simon Sinek inspired her to become the leader she always wanted to be.
‘Your mind is your greatest enemy’: fashion CEO’s light-bulb moment
Frederieke van Doorn, the founder and CEO of Hong Kong-based women’s tailoring brand Frey, explains how Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment changed her life.
Children’s book highlights role of Hong Kong’s foreign domestic helpers
A children’s book, My Extra-Special Aunty, uses illustrations by Hong Kong domestic helpers from the Philippines to show the ‘meaningful connections’ helpers have with the families they work for.
Grandma, mother, daughter: an emotional story from China to US
Memories of three generations of women from Communist China, Hong Kong and California and the traumas they carried with them are at the heart of Feeding Ghosts, Tessa Hulls’ debut graphic novel.
Photo trove offers window on life in China’s wartime capital Chongqing
A new book published by Hong Kong’s Blacksmith Books features images of Chongqing shot by war correspondent Melville Jacoby that paint a picture of life in China’s temporary capital on the Yangtze.
Then & Now | The eclectic publisher jailed for plotting to kill Mao Zedong
After World War II, Henri Vetch built a publishing career in China before being jailed for plotting to assassinate Mao Zedong and later taking the helm of the freshly minted Hong Kong University press.
How Half the Sky spurred Hongkonger to start ethical shoe brand
Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn’s 2009 book Half the Sky opened the eyes of Natalie Chow, co-founder of Hong Kong-based sustainable and ethical shoe brand Kibo, to human trafficking and slavery.
Raped at 14, she was haunted for years – now her dream has come true
Fresh from her talk at the Hong Kong International Literary Festival, newly minted author Sonia Leung tells Kate Whitehead about life in a Diamond Hill slum, a devastating rape and how she finally followed her dream.
Which Jane Austen book changed this mental health charity founder’s life?
Lucy Lord MBE, a decorated obstetrician who is also the founder and executive chair of mental health charity Mind HK, reveals the Jane Austen book that she has read over and over again for 50 years.
‘It helped to shape me’: Hong Kong Arts Festival director’s eye-opening read
Flora Yu, executive director of the Hong Kong Arts Festival, explains how the classic Chinese novel Dream of the Red Chamber, one of the world’s great works of literature, changed her life.
Book extract: new thinking about Marco Polo’s China travels, often doubted
With his outlandish stories of the East, Marco Polo has always drawn scepticism. But historian and author Christopher Harding’s latest book makes the intrepid Venetian’s travels harder to doubt.
‘Thrill of the forbidden’: Charles Baudelaire’s dark, taboo-busting poetry
Nicolas Chow, chairman for Asia and worldwide head of Asian art at Sotheby’s, explains how French poet Charles Baudelaire’s book Les Fleurs du Mal (The Flowers of Evil) changed his life.
Best books of 2023 – with a twist – from Elon Musk biography to Yellow Face
From an Elon Musk biography and Prince Harry’s Spare to Yellow Face and Hong Kong poetry, Post Magazine’s round-up of 2023’s best books takes as its theme the Cambridge Dictionary word of the year, hallucinate.
How F. Scott Fitzgerald’s first book changed fashion label founder’s life
Christine Chow, co-founder and creative director of Hong Kong sustainable fashion label Tove & Libra, explains the impact F. Scott Fitzgerald’s first book ‘This Side of Paradise’ had on her young self.