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Beijing — September 23rd & 24th

Written by Spittoon Founder, Matthew Byrne

It felt like the entire area around the Bookworm in Sanlitun had a Spittoony buzz about it during the first day of the Beijing tour leg. During the day Simon and I zoomed off briefly on his bike to meet Samantha Toh, a Singaporean poet who was collaborating for Spittoon’s Spittunes project with the Norwegian Jazz trio, Nypal Trio. We brought them together and left them practising at a studio in Dongzhimen for their special collaborative piece later that evening.

The first event was a poetry reading featuring some of Beijing’s brightest talent — sunlight shining hazily through the windows onto a contemplative crowd. This was followed by a panel moderated by Loreli’s Kerryn Leitch: The Poetic Magic of Mixing Media, featuring panellists Krish Raghav, Liu Qilin, Nayyir Shareef, and Kassy Lee — a conversation about the Beijing and Shanghai literary and artistic scenes that fizzed and bubbled away into lunchtime.

The afternoon brought a Poetry in Translation event showcasing Chinese writers published in the Spittoon Literary Magazine, moderated by Chen Bo. This was followed by Spittunes — four musician and poet partnerships performing specially created collaborative pieces. Artists, writers, and audience members danced the night away at the rooftop after-party organised by Dorothy Mae Ajayi.

Day two featured the interactive Books of Beijing event — organised by Sven Romberg, Cas Sutherland, and Vanessa Meng — where people became interactive books you could borrow and read. A Spittoon Fiction showcase hosted by former Fiction Host Matias Ruiz-Tagle closed out the Beijing leg.

Chengdu — October 14th & 15th

Written by Spittoon Chengdu Organiser and Host, Annie Leonard

For me, the best thing about the Tour was that it was actually a tour: four writers from Beijing, including Spittoon’s founder Matthew Byrne, turned up on my doorstep that weekend, ready to perform and chill in our most relaxing city of Chengdu.

Matt and I opened the festival with introductory remarks about the birth and growth of Spittoon over the past two years, and a video by Matias Ruiz-Tagle showcasing Spittoon Beijing’s events and poetry. Then the four Beijing-based writers — Matthew, Rowena C., Artur Witkowski, and Deva Eveland — shared their work to a small but enthusiastic audience.

The evening built into a full poetry showcase, a Poetry in Translation section featuring work in English, Chinese, Spanish, and Russian, and a Spittunes programme with five diverse acts — guzheng and pipa accompaniment, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, and a closing performance of beatboxing and poetry that brought the house down.

Shanghai — November 18th

Written by Spittoon Literary Magazine Editor-in-Chief, Simon Shieh

Shanghai is pleasantly warm in November and has a huge appetite for the kind of literary events Spittoon specialises in. With help from Shanghai Literary Review, Literary Shanghai, and NYU Shanghai, we organised a day of fun, interactive literary events.

The day opened with a translation masterclass led by poet and translator Shelly Bryant and NYU professor David Perry — participants translated work themselves, then compared and discussed their choices with the professionals. This was followed by a poetry reading at My Place Ruin Bar, featuring Shanghai-area writers including 肖水, Alice Pettway, Shelly Bryant, and David Perry.

The day closed with Battle of the Bards — teams competing across different forms of literary battle, from performative recitations to collaborative writing.

Originally published February 2018 on the Spittoon WeChat channel. Beijing section written by Matthew Byrne. Chengdu section written by Annie Leonard. Shanghai section written by Simon Shieh.