Matthew Byrne | Writer, Founder, Digital Marketer

Spittoon Literary Magazine Issue 4: A Bold New Direction

Issue 4 of the Spittoon Literary Magazine marked an important change of direction — from this point the magazine would be dedicated exclusively to translating and publishing China’s best new writers. The issue featured poetry from 余幼幼, 杜绿绿, and 桑克, and prose from 包慧怡, 索耳, and 黎幺. Translation was led by Stephen Nashef with a team of Chinese and English-language writers and translators working in pairs.

Spittoon’s Website Reborn and Spittoon Monthly Launches

Spittoon launched a rebuilt website at spittooncollective.com, publishing new English-language fiction and poetry, featured translations from the print magazine, and a new monthly column — Spittoon Monthly. The first featured writer was Xiao Yue (Shelly) Shan, with five poems published on launch. The online editorial team included fiction editor Bradford Philen, poetry editor Poornima Weerasekara, Chinese literature editor Ana Padilla Fornieles, and Chinese language editor Huang Chenkuang.

Spittoon Chengdu

Spittoon’s first branch outside Beijing, Chengdu had been running since 2016 under Annie Leonard — also administrator of the Chengdu Bookworm Writing Group. Monthly reading nights attracted writing group members, Chinese authors, budding teenage writers, and occasional opera singers. Chengdu had also participated in the Spittoon Literary Tour and Chengdu Concordia International School’s World Reading Day event.

Spittoon Launches in Gothenburg

September 1st, 2018 marked Spittoon’s first international event — Spittoon Gothenburg, launched by Matias Ruiz-Tagle at Litteraturhuset. The first edition featured performers from Sweden, Syria, Canada, Chile, and Russia.

Spittunes: New Collaborations and a Compilation Album

Spittunes announced two new developments. A collaboration with Nuvoices — a Beijing collective promoting women writers and creatives — produced a Spittunes event at DDC on 28th August featuring Li Wan, Lethokuhle Msimang, and Anthony Tao. And Spittoon announced a collaboration with producer and label Nasty Wizard for a Spittunes compilation album featuring eight special collaboration songs by Chinese and foreign artists and poets.

CUE is Born

On 28th July 2018, Beijing’s illustrators, artists, and comic book enthusiasts gathered at El Nido for the launch of CUE — Spittoon’s bilingual comic book series. Managing Editor Michael Marshall ran the launch, which continued as an after-party at Temple Bar. The first issue featured everything from a delivery driver travelling into a different dimension to an exploration of perfect Beijing recipes.

That’s What Spittoon Is — Documentary Released

The short documentary filmed by Hannes Knutsson-Hall during September 2017 — covering Spittoon’s regular programming and its first ever multi-city tour across Beijing, Chengdu, and Suzhou/Shanghai — was finally released. A portrait of who Spittoon is and what it does.

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Originally published on the Spittoon WeChat channel, Summer 2018.

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