But first, I would just like to say thank you to all of those who have contributed to or read Eastlit throughout 2016. Plus a special thank you to everyone who has worked on the editorial board this year and to those who have donated to help cover our costs.

And in January our ever popular annual list of what were the best read pieces in 2016 and all time will be out!

And having said that, lets move to the news.

Writing Mentoring

Eastlit now offers a full writing mentoring service to Asian focused writers. The service offered is as short or long as wanted and all rates are local Asian rates. So cost is low. We currently have several running and a couple complete, and are currently open to taking on a few more writiers. If you are interested contact Graham for information.

Writing Retreats

Eastlit is currently involved in discussions to set up writing retreats within Asia. These will be for local or distant writers focusing on Asian themes. The plan is that they will follow a typical writing retreat format but also include some of our unique Eastlit ideas. We will also be aiming at running at affordable prices.

This is at early days yet, but we are quite excited and hope to be able to offer something in 2017. Fingers crossed!

A Partnership with an ESL Site

Those of you who know me better know that I work within teaching English to speakers of other language. Within that field in the past I was quite active within the Ed-Tech side and maintain strong contacts with some leaders in the field.

One off-shoot of this is an offer to partner Eastlit with a top ESL websites in the world to supply some audio-story material for learners of English. We will be looking for short short-stories and flash fiction that Eastlit has previously published or will publish. Those selected will be read by actors and then used on the ESL website complete with downloadable material.

This is currently at planning stage but there should be no obstacles. The stories selected will also be guaranteed a far larger audience.

Bangkok Buckaroo by Steve Rosse

A few years back, Steve was a regular columnist on Eastlit with his How not to Write series. Now Steve has released his latest book: Bangkok Buckaroo. 

Steve is an old hand from South East Asia now living in the US, but here he is back writing about Bangkok.

You can also read a review of Bangkok Buckaroo in the Bangkok newspaper The Nation.

Good luck to Steve on the book from all of us at Eastlit.

Supporting Eastlit

And finally a reminder that if you support what Eastlit is doing you can provide support by liking and sharing this post, linking or generally passing the word on.

Or you can make a donation via PayPal (note: the PayPal e-mail is Eastlit1 at gmail dot com). For credit card donation after clicking the link below, scroll down to the credit card pictures and click continue.

Cheers

Graham

The post News December 2016 appeared first on Eastlit.

It is again time to take a quick look at the popular Eastern literature in Eastlit. Once again Eastlit includes the most popular Eastern literature over the last seven and thirty days. And the all time list gets an update, too…

The pieces can be found by using the links in the top bar or in the Eastlit archive. Maybe it’s an idea to take a look at some of the other pieces? Everyone has different tastes, and quality does not always go hand in hand with popularity!.

The next issue of Eastlit will be out on September 1.

Please note we exclude all the covers, content pages, contributor lists etc from these stats.

Popular Eastern Literature Last Seven Days

1. The Foreign Man is Prepared to Take Everything in His Stride by Connla Stokes (July 2014).
2. Let Me Tell You How I Treat My Children by Preeyakit Buranasin (August 2013).
3. A Veil of Silk by Jared Angel (June 2014).
4. The Puppet Tree Illustration by Vasan Sitthiket (October 2013).
5. A Bridge Behind by Khanh Ha (July 2014).

Popular Eastern Literature Last Thirty Days:

1. Let Me Tell You How I Treat My Children by Preeyakit Buranasin (August 2013).
2. The Foreign Man is Prepared to Take Everything in His Stride by Connla Stokes (July 2014).
3. Going Back to Emerald Hill by Chew Yi Wei (April 2014).
4. Ma’s Mosquito Moment by Hong My Basrai (August 2014).
5. Perfect Present by Andrew J. West (June 2014).

Popular Eastern Literature All Time:

1. Smoke and Mirrors by Sayantan Ghosh (April 2014).
2. Ishinomaki by Cesar Polvorosa Jr. (February 2014).
3. The Bicentennial by Cesar Polvorosa Jr. (June 2014).
4. Going Back to Emerald Hill by Chew Yi Wei (April 2013).
5. Bluebird Island by Pauline Lacanilao (December 2013).
6. The Puppet Tree by Andrew J. West (October 2013).
7. A Complete Overhaul by Stephen Jordan (March 2014).
8. The Debt by Kritika Chettri (November 2013).
9. Why I Write by Qui Phiet Tran (April 2014).
10. One Day Friends by Ralph Catedral (February 2014).

Year on Year Readership Change

• + 46% December 2013 on December 2012.
• +172% January 2014 on January 2013.
• +161% February 2104 on February 2013.
• +242% March 2014 on March 2013.
• +64% April 2014 on April 2013.
• +8% May 2014 on May 2013.
• +69% June 2014 on June 2013.
• +17% July 2014 on July 2013.

Top Ten Countries in Alphabetical Order:

• Canada
• China & Hong Kong
• India
• Japan
• Malaysia
• Philippines
• Thailand
• United Kingdom
• United States
• Vietnam

Cheers and Enjoy.

Graham

The post Popular Eastern Literature: Eastlit appeared first on Eastlit.

I have included the all time top ten and as usual I have also included the top five most popular writing pieces of the last five and thirty days. Pieces still seem to move up and down and in and out of the all time top ten.

We continue to look at the latest popular literature by contributors. Pages such as: site pages, editorials, covers and news items etc are not included. I still don’ include a direct link to each piece, but I continue to list which issue each piece is in. It is easy to find links to older issues through the Eastlit Archive. Recent issues are in the archive menu and also at the top of the page. It is also a good idea to take a look at some of the lesser read pieces too. Being in the top ten may not mean being the best

Anyway here is the top ten of all time after the recent top fives:

Latest Popular Literature: Last Seven Days:

1. Artwork by Bruce Gundersen (December).
2. Bluebird Island by Pauline Lacanilao (December).
3. Common Filipino Funeral Superstitions Rebutted by Reynold P. Macaranas (March).
4. Two Poems by Cesar Polvorosa Junior (December).
5. Another Day Above Ground by Susan Lewington (December).

Latest Popular Literature: Last Thirty Days:

1. Bluebird Island by Pauline Lacanilao (December).
2. Two Poems by Cesar Polvorosa Junior (December).
3. Common Filipino Funeral Superstitions Rebutted by Reynold P. Macaranas (March).
4. The Student Tree by Andrew J. West (December).
5. Two Poems by Miguel Gomez (December).

Latest Popular Literature: All Time:

1. Common Filipino Funeral Superstitions Rebutted by Reynold P. Macaranas (March).
2. Bluebird Island by Pauline Lacanilao (December).
3. The Puppet Tree by Andrew J. West (October)
4. Going Back to Emerald Hill by Chew Yi Wei (April).
5. The Mansion by Andrew J. West (June).
6. The Debt by Kritika Chettri (November).
7. Five Poems by Rose Lu (April).
8. Three Poems by Rose Lu (July).
9. La Perla by MFL Bulandus (December).
10. When the Holy Ruled the Middle Kingdom by Jean Luc-Bouchard (October).

Other News:

I will be doing another Eastlit news post soon to cover other stuff. We will also be doing some kind of end of end of year review and most popular pieces of 2013 in the coming weeks.

Cheers.

Graham.

The post Latest Popular Literature appeared first on Eastlit.

Our aim in the first issue is to bring you an interesting and varied collection. This will be short stories, poetry and flash fiction. It’s exciting that this is so close now. The first issue will be on its own new page. The rest of the site will stay as it is now. We have Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr pages set up. You can follow us on them to get updates if you want. Just click on the links, or the follow us button on the left. We will update you with what is happening regularly.

The first issue will appear on the site on December 1. We are working on East Asia time, so for most it should be up when you wake up. However, if you are in Australia or Japan, please be a little patient!

Other News on First Issue:

I am currently working on apps for mobile viewing. We hope to have an app before the first issue. More on that later.

Thanks for the support for the Facebook event.

Writers can still send us work. See our submissions page.

Please remember to bookmark or follow us. Check here for news. Check the site for the first issue.

Cheers

Graham

The post Our Aim in the First Issue appeared first on Eastlit.