Poets from Turkey and Taiwan

(English by Adam Cheung, Chinese by Polly Ho)

Bejan Matur shared about her experience as a poet living in Istanbul. She talked about how she evolved as a poet, from keeping notebooks of emotional and random musings to shaping the many lines of words into presentable works of poetry in a process that was like making a sculpture. She also talked about the time she spent in prison when she was a teenager and how that transformed her as a poet and as an acute observer of the world. Bejan encouraged us to think about why we care about poetry. Then she recited “Winds Howl through the Mansions” in Turkish. Even though this was the poet’s first visit to Hong Kong, she demonstrated a genuine respect for the vibrant literary landscape of the city.

羅智成擔任過不同的職位，擁有過不少的名銜，曾任總編輯、電台台長、發行人等，他坦誠其第一身份是詩人，可見作為一個詩人是他自我認同的基本位置。 他是少數既了解台灣及香港情況的台灣人，他認為香港人對於「美好生活」的定義被媒體塑造，認為住大屋､開名車就是美好生活的典範，事實上不一定。他擔任過香港光華中心主任，在香港工作一年多的時間，並花了一段時間了解香港，以他的理解，香港是一個直向發展的城市，什麼都向上發展，高樓大廈，而台灣則是橫向發展。過度的直向發展令人看不到高樓以外的藍天白雲，不能不說有點惋惜。

(photos by Paul Wan)

Kubrick Poetry •December• ACCESS: Thirteen Tales

時間 Time：2011/12/18 (Sunday) 5:00pm-6:00pm
地點 Venue：油麻地 Kubrick (next to Broadway Cinemathèque, 3 Public Square St.)
主持 Moderators：Polly Ho, Florence Ng & Adam Cheung
嘉賓 Guest：Xu Xi

What do we think we desire? What do we truly desire? Xu Xi explores these questions in her latest fiction collection, ACCESS: Thirteen Tales, recently published by Signal 8 Press. On December 18th, Xu Xi joins us at Kubrick Poetry to talk about her newest work and about matters concerning Hong Kong and Asian literature. Don’t miss this opportunity to meet the writer whom The New York Times once named “a pioneer writer from Asia in English.”

Xu Xi is the author of nine books of fiction and essays, and editor of three anthologies of Hong Kong literature in English.She is also the Writer-in-Residence and Programme Leader of the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing programme at City University. www.xuxiwriter.com

Philosopher King

(By Adam Cheung)

Kubrick Poetry’s October session was held at Book Attic in Central, where we sat down with Ronnie Lee, the philosopher/writer/poet.

Ronnie narrated his literary journey from a scholarly, philosophical perspective. He talked about how he had to go through an extensive period of reading, studying, and just immersing himself in the many philosophical theories before he could clearly express his ideas on topics like the making of the universe, religion, human behavior, and love. He discussed the challenges he has experienced in self-publishing, and he talked about the lack of response to the ideas he has articulated at the philosophical debates he has attended in Hong Kong. Ronnie gave a detailed explanation for the silent responses.

Ronnie shared a poem about the notion of “free will” and his perspective of it. We then went on to explore Ronnie’s religious convictions regarding his idea of God’s Will, and the heavy responsibilities that he has taken on as he sees his life as a mission to speak the Truth. He talked about how this mission motivates him to contemplate many social issues and to keep on writing.

Ronnie also shared what could be called a love poem, which he wrote many years ago, a piece of work precedes his many philosophical books. The audience was deeply taken by Ronnie’s uncompromising approach in exploring the depths of life and matters beyond life.