Matthew Byrne | Writer, Founder, Digital Marketer

Literature Against Urban Isolation

On Sunday 8th December 2019, Spittoon came to Shanghai for a celebration of what the written word does to unite sprawling urban worlds. Three events across one afternoon and evening at Bohemia on Hengshan Lu, co-organised with the Shanghai Writing Workshop. Free entry.

Beijing Lights: An Illumination — 2pm to 3:30pm

Creator Huang Chenkuang travelled from Beijing to Shanghai to present selections from Beijing Lights — her bilingual interview series capturing the overlooked faces of the city. A barber in the park, a troubled wife on a train, a passionate stone collector, a blind massage therapist. Kuang joined a conversation about her process and the many faces that pass us by every day.

Literary Pub Quiz — 4pm to 5:30pm

Head of the Shanghai Writing Workshop, Dr Ryan Thorpe hosted a literary pub quiz combining random knowledge questions with small writing challenges. What happens when you smash sci-fi and fantasy with a dash of horror? How would Michael Crichton have ended The Great Gatsby? Teams competed for literary glory

Meet the Lit Mags — 6pm to 8pm

For the first time, China’s English-language small literary publishers from Shanghai to Beijing came together for one reading. Each publisher introduced their project followed by readings from editors and contributing authors. Eight publications took part:

The Shanghai Literary Review — a biannual English literature magazine featuring fiction, nonfiction, poetry, translation, interviews, book reviews, and art from or about Asia.

A Shanghai Poetry Zine (ASPZ) — founded in 2016, a quarterly publication featuring poetry and visual art from writers and artists on the Shanghai scene, each issue built around a theme.

Alluvium — the journal of Literary Shanghai, a community of Chinese and international writers, translators, and readers gathering monthly for literary talks, readings, and workshops.

Shanghai Writing Workshop — a free bi-weekly creative writing workshop founded in 2015 by Ryan Thorpe, with a literary journal and reading series.

Babel — B人BEL magazine tells the stories of people in China not often covered by mainstream media, using labels to go beyond the label and reveal the person behind it.

Shaving in the Dark — a Shanghai-based collective of artists with a passion for comics and illustration, running monthly Drink and Draw events and art workshops.

Spittoon Literary Magazine — a Beijing-based biannual publication dedicated to bringing Chinese writing and art to an English-language audience, translating and publishing China’s best new voices.

Spittoon Monthly — an online English-language platform featuring one writer each month, alternating poetry and fiction, giving each work the focus it deserves.

---

Originally published December 2019 on the Spittoon WeChat channel. Part of the Spittoon MEGACITY series. Co-organised with the Shanghai Writing Workshop at Bohemia, 191 Hengshan Lu, Shanghai.

---