Table of Contents

Credits and Permissions

Introduction

Chapter One: Family Matters
1. “The Brothers” Lysley Tenorio (USA)
2. “My Mother Pattu” Saras Manickam (Malaysia)

Chapter Two: Attraction
1. “Convince Me” Jiang Yitan (China) translated from Chinese (Mandarin) by Philip Hand
2. “No Toes” Michael Mohammed Ahmad (Australia)

Chapter Three: Routines
1. “We That Summer” Han Yujoo (Korea) translated from Korean by Janet Hong
2. “Birds” by Deepak Unnikrishnan (UAE)

Chapter Four: Little Fish
1. “A Clerk’s Story” Dilip Kumar (India) translated from Tamil by Padma Narayanan
2. “National Day” Jeremy Tiang (Singapore)
3. “An Errand” Angelo Lacuesta, (Philippines)

Chapter Five: Shedding Skins
1. “All About Skin” Xu Xi (USA)
2. “Dragon Menu” Zhang Xinxin (China) translated from Chinese (Mandarin) by Helen Wang

Chapter Six: Invaders
1. “Farangs” Rattawut Lapcharoensap (USA)
2. “Boondocks” Robin Hemley (USA)

Chapter Seven: Diasporas
1. “The Boat” Nam Le (Australia)
2. “Dreams in English” Noelle Q. de Jesus (Philippines)

Chapter Eight: Mysteries
1. “The Door,” Dorothy Tse (Hong Kong) translated from Chinese (Cantonese) by Natascha Bruce
2. “Where did I Lose You?” Fan Xiaoqing (China) translated from Chinese (Mandarin) by Paul Harris

Chapter Nine: Taboos
1. “The Quilt,” Ismat Chughtai (India) translated from Urdu by Gopika Jadeja
2. “Video” Meera Nair (USA)
3. “Prayer in Training” Ploi Pirapokin (USA)

Chapter Ten: Histories
1. “Bee Honey” Yoshimoto Banana (Japan) translated from Japanese by Michael Emmerich
2. “Lee Kuan Yew is not Always the Answer” Inez Tan, (Singapore)

Chapter Eleven: Future Tense
1. “Pink” Hoshino Tomoyuki (Japan) translated from Japanese by Brian Bergstrom
2. “Learning Curve” Yeung Chak Yan (Hong Kong)

Index

Promotional Information

Written for the international fiction writer, this is the first creative writing guide to explore inspirational examples from leading writers from across Asia, from China, Japan and India to Singapore and Vietnam.

About the Author

Robin Hemley is Director of the George Polk School of Communications as well as Parsons Family Chair in Creative Writing, University Professor and Co-Chair of the MFA in Writing at LIU-Brooklyn, USA. He is also Professor Emeritus at The University of Iowa, USA, a graduate of The Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and the award-winning author of 14 books of fiction and nonfiction.


Xu Xi is a prolific Indonesian Chinese novelist and author from Hong Kong and New York. Her recent books include This Fish is Fowl: Essays of Being (2019),a memoir Dear Hong Kong: Elegy for a City (2017) and the novel That Man in Our Lives (2016). She is Faculty Co-Director of the International MFA at Vermont College of Fine Arts, USA, where she previously served as faculty chair for their MFA in writing. She also established and directed Asia’s first low-residency MFA at the City University of Hong Kong.

Reviews

The clarity with which Xu and Hemley break down the stories is remarkable ... The book’s assessments of the machinations of these short stories reads a lot like a friendly, but sharp, editorial letter ... [and] I enjoyed every paragraph of the editors’ good advice. I loved the deft way in which they reminded us about the deeper message of inclusivity that’s being posited here, from the book’s raison d’être to its gentle reminders about writing 'the other' carefully and respectfully. The question of authenticity is tackled to great effect, but never ad nauseum, and this reader is grateful for the book’s continuous gentle, wry, tone.
*Undomesticated Magazine*

Xu Xi and Robin Hemley are brilliant guides to the art of fiction. This anthology, long awaited, is a joy to behold, illuminating a larger world for a new generation of writers.
*Madeleine Thien, author of 'Do Not Say We Have Nothing'*

Everyone knows that the domination of Western storytelling is a problem, but what to do about it? The Art and Craft of Asian Stories offers practical and thought-provoking advice. And you don't have to be an Asian storyteller, by the way, to be enriched and inspired by these pages.
*Gish Jen, author of The Resisters*