176 pages. Monotone. Softcover.
203 mm (H) x 152 mm (W)
Bilingual (Chinese & English)ISBN 978-1-938890-12-3 (US) / ISBN 978-988-13114-2-8 (HK)
NOT WRITTEN WORDS 不是文字
about this book
關於這本書
Xi Xi (writer).
Jennifer Feeley (translator)
Recipient of the Publishing Award (Literature & Fiction) at the 2017 Hong Kong Publishing Biennial Awards
Xi Xi (also known as Sai Sai), pseudonym of Cheung Yin, is one of Hong Kong’s most beloved and acclaimed writers, as well as a stylistic innovator across genres. She has published two poetry volumes, seven novels, twenty-one short story and essay collections, and one stand-alone novella. Many of her books have been reprinted in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Mainland China.
Her attitude toward literature, and life in general, is perhaps best epitomised through her chosen pen-name. For Xi Xi, the graphic quality of the Chinese character xi 西 looks like a girl in a skirt playing a game similar to hopscotch. Duplicating the characters side-by-side calls to mind the frame of a film, with the girl hopping from one square to another.
Not Written Words features 45 of Xi Xi’s poems, translated into English by Jennifer Feeley. It is one of the first publications in the Hong Kong Atlas series, which aims to expand the English-language canon with a range of Hong Kong voices. By drawing on literature, translation and creative culture as a way of remapping a global city, the Atlas project offers alternative histories to Hong Kong through its own literature.
