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Hong Kong Women in Publishing Society | WiPS

@hkwips

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📌 Professional, inclusive community of women and gender-diverse people
📕 Connected through words and work
📍 Hong Kong, est. 1990

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If you don’t read Romance, you might as well scroll on before you roll your eyes at what I’m sharing here😉

Romance has been my escape from the real world for as long as I can remember, going back to my teen years, when I used to hide and read my mother’s Mills and Boon :) I also own 20 editions of Pride and Prejudice.

A few months back, much to my surprise, I found out that one of our fellow @hkwips members was coming out with her debut novel, that too a romance novel. Imagine my excitement!

I started Versions of Us around 10 pm on the 28th, read until I could barely see clearly (magnesium & melatonin had kicked in fully by then), and picked it up the next morning, fully acknowledging that I would not be able to start the very long list of things I needed to do until I had finished this story.

So here’s what I look for in a romance novel -
-It needs to have an interesting, absorbing storyline.
-There needs to be more than a peck on the cheek (I’m almost 49, for crying out loud).
-Chemistry cannot be forced or faked either in real & reel life, or in a book. This is the most important aspect that carries an entire romance novel - do the characters have that brilliant chemistry?
-The novel can have tropes; I enjoy some of them, but only if they aren’t completely clichéd.
-A good romance novel is more than simply “smut”. It has an actual story that hooks you and keeps you invested in the characters’ lives, beyond the bedroom gymnastics.
-The characters should be believable, flawed as all real humans are, and able to convey their emotions in a way that makes you tear up when they cry; you feel their angst; you feel the anger; you smile when they’re being childish and impossible to deal with.
❤️Versions of Us ticked ALL these boxes for me. It really did. Charlie and Sienna are equals in every way (something I’ve noticed about many sapphic book romances compared to hetero ones; yes, this is a sapphic romance). And what’s not to like about an all-consuming, heady, tumultuous love between two strong, equal characters?

Bravo, @frankiealexanderauthor . I hope you’re working hard at that second novel 😊📚

#Versionsofus #frankiealexander #shikhaslamba

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Having my work published in Imprint, the annual anthology of @hkwips is an honour. To be among all the incredibly talented and generous women creatives - some of whom are dear, dear friends - bound by our love for art and a little island called Hong Kong is a blessing I am grateful for. Deadline for submissions by members to Imprint 25 is 30 September: hoping to meet again with everyone even if not in person, then within the pages of a book ❤️📚🇭🇰

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The best thing about our city is that everyone is doing something special, and these communities help to share that work among peers and pals.

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I am deeply honored to share that my poem, “Fragment by Fragment,” has been published in the August issue of The Candyman’s Trumpet, a special issue dedicated to the poetry and voices of Afghan women and girls.

This issue brings together the work of 25 Afghan women and girls, twelve writing from within Afghanistan and thirteen from the diaspora. To see my words become part of this collection is deeply meaningful to me.

For Afghan women, writing has never been merely an act of creation. Sometimes, it is an act of remembering. Sometimes, an act of resistance. And sometimes, simply a way of saying: I am still here.

My heartfelt gratitude goes to Shikha S. , whose thoughtful curation brought these voices together, and to Jack Caradoc, editor of The Candyman’s Trumpet, for opening this space to Afghan women and girls.

I am also deeply grateful to the literary community around the world that has embraced and amplified this issue. My sincere thanks to:

Cha: An Asian Literary Journal
Usawa Literary Review
The Hooghly Review
Hong Kong Women in Publishing Society
The Dreaming Machine and Pina Picolo
Sadie Kaye
Nadia Hashimi
Vinita Agarwal
and the many writers, poets, editors, and readers who have shared this issue across their platforms.

Your support has helped these voices travel beyond borders and reach readers around the world.

And to every Afghan woman and girl whose words are contained within these pages:
may we continue to write, even when they try to silence us.
May our fragments become stories.
May our stories become voices.
And may our voices remain.

With gratitude. 🤍

“Fragment by Fragment” Yalda Hozhair Aminy

#AfghanWomen #AfghanWriters #WomenWriters #PoetryCommunity #WomenInLiterature

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💛🧸 #authorlife

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Speaking at the Hong Kong Women in Publishing Society!

In 2023, I was figuring out how to self-publish my first book, The Lemon Tree Mindset, because no publisher would take it.

3 years and 4 books later, I was invited to join a panel to talk about my experience to encourage new/ aspiring authors with author @dr.bee.lim @ and literary agent Marysia Juszczakiewicz.

Take that step, get messy, figure things out, and when you have, share it with others and pay it forward without asking anything in return.

It will come back.

It always does.

Thank you @imogenshort_author and team for putting together a fantastic session together and good luck to all the authors in the making 🌳🍋

@hkwips

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Sharing my third poem published in the Hong Kong Women in Publishing @hkwips 2026 IMPRINT anthology.
Swipe to see one of the photos that inspired it.

Delhi monsoons can inspire and overwhelm. I guess it’s the same for HK, but in Delhi I get to see a lot more green outside my windows which always feels glorious. And it smells different - much earthier because of the soil.

Thanks for reading 😊☔️🌧️

#shikhaslamba #delhirains #monsoons #poem #publishedpoem

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Highlight of @litfest_hk was definitely the @hkwips event where I was invited to give a speech. So honoured and so grateful to share the space with such incredible women. Here’s a snippet from the speech:

This year feels especially meaningful as Women in Publishing Society continues its long relationship with the Hong Kong International Literary Festival during its 25th anniversary, a connection shared since its foundation in 2000. To have sustained this partnership for so many years speaks to the strength of this society and its role within the literary life of the city.

I was struck by the shared thread between Alka Joshi, who wrote the foreword to Imprint 24, and my own work as an author. We both return, again and again, to women who are asked to remain small. Women who are told what is possible and what is not. And yet, they rise. Not always loudly. Not always triumphantly. But persistently. They rise through choice, through endurance, through quiet acts of resistance.

The women in this anthology are doing something similar. By writing. By submitting. By allowing their work to be read. They are shaping their own narratives rather than waiting for permission. They are expanding what can be said and who gets to say it. ♥️♥️♥️

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So wonderful to hear all the women’s voices in the new #wips @hkwips Imprint 24 book launch @fcchkfcc last week. Some beautiful and inspiring pieces by @authorrituhemnani @sadiekaye @iamcandice242

I didn’t submit anything for this edition but I really enjoyed supporting my fellow female writers and picking up some great tips and advice. I hope to have something in next years edition.

Imprint24 is a collection of short stories, poems and art. Perfect short reads for when you need a quickie…. :) I keep one copy next to the loo and the other in my bag for buses and trams!! 🥰🤩🙏🏻

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Firstly, this song cracks me up!
Yeah my #tbr is probably around 500 books (more like 100 at home right now).

Just finished the last event I had signed up for at the @litfest_hk with @jennie.orchard and @ayearofreadingtheworld ,and this one had me tearing up multiple times in between. I will be doing a separate post about it next week.

Next to me are few books by some of the LitFest authors / writers. You can get these and more at @bookazinehk
Featured here - When Sleeping Women Wake by @emmapeiyin
The Gifts of Reading - @jennie.orchard
Relearning to Read - @ayearofreadingtheworld
Ghost Eye - @amitav_ghosh1
Julie Chan is Dead - Liang Zhang
Raising AI - @dekai1
IMPRINT 24 - by @hkwips
Coming of Age Anthology- @hongkongwriterscircle
The Second Chance Convenient Store - @mangwonbrothers
I Deliver Parcels in Beijing - Hu Anyan
Dust - @flamboyant_tree

Dear @bookazinehk , some other non LitFest books found their way into my shopping bag from your shelves as well this week, so I’m afraid we’re going to have to take a short break from each other for sometime 😁. You know I’ll be back soon! :)

Thank you so much @lauramannering4 and team for another fantastic festival. Breathe and rest up after today :)

Meeting so many wonderful authors and writers - wonderful people really, brings me such happiness. Books matter, stories matter, storytellers matter, people who champion stories and storytellers matter, people who go on to do their little bit of good in the world after reading the last page of a book matter.
I’m so grateful for my reading/writing community - online and otherwise.

#shikhaslamba #books #hongkongliteraryfestival #bookstoread

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about me

💬 third-person bio
Erin thinks of herself as the choreographer of social impact, weaving elements across disciplines into an intricate dance to create change. Her operational and creative experience spans multiple fields, including social entrepreneurship, educational theatre, and cosmetic chemistry. She was born in Hong Kong, spends her time on Naarm’s (Melbourne’s) trams, and is always searching for ways to do better. Contact her via erin@riverbed.world or linkedin.com/in/erin-ai-hei.

📍current roles
@riverbed.collective co-founder and executive director.
🐠 Riverbed Collective is an artist-led social enterprise celebrating creatives, their unique styles, and their shared stories. Our latest project involved 72 artists from 20ish countries, raising 15K USD on Kickstarter.
@hkwips steering committee & chief marketing officer.
📚Hong Kong Women in Publishing Society is the oldest literary organisation of its kind in Hong Kong; a professional, inclusive community of women and gender-diverse people, united in words and work since 1990.

⁉️ want more from me?
I routinely engage in public humiliation by writing on my website. Jokes aside, I’ll always be a work in progress, making mistakes as I figure out how best to help the world with my career, so Diaries of a Work in Progress documents my journey: www.erinaihei.com

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The annual launch of the @hkwips anthology during the @litfest_hk is one event I really look forward to each year. I’m grateful to have three ekphrastic poems published in the 24th edition this year.
What’s not to love about a room full of women writers, editors, poets, podcasters and publishers from different backgrounds - coming together to celebrate each other and the creative arts.

So lovely to meet author @emmapeiyin in person. I’ll be getting to her novel, When Sleeping Women Wake, soon.
As always I’m mostly stuck by @_maureentai_ and @authorrituhemnani ‘s side 😁
Loved having @artisjourneyhk & @shonee9 founders of @bookazinehk there, and @thecrystaltita @no_fluff_straight_talk @gilliankew @shikha_hk @dimpleshahchronicles @iamcandice242 @kayesadie Carol, Grace Chan, @hongkonglitclub and everyone else.

A huge thanks to the Wips committee, all the readers, and of course Carol who manages to put this amazing anthology together year after year.

Grateful to be a part of this amazing group.
I also want to thank @rinkooramchandani (we missed you) and HK Wips for including Candles for Charity as a part of the giveaways - thank you for supporting my initiatives for Afghan women ❤️🙏🏼

#shikhaslamba #hongkongwomeninpublishing #imprintanthology #womenwriters #hongkongliteraryfestival

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