These are the new lists of best read Asian literature found in Eastlit. Unfortunately time means these are getting later and later. Sorry for that. Eastlit includes all the best read Asian fiction, poetry, artwork and non-fiction of the most recent seven and thirty days. Eastlit’s all time list of best read Asian literature has also been updated. Due to popular request, we continue to provide direct links to each piece in our lists.

All of this bets read Asian literature and artwork can be read from the links on this page or just make use of the links in the top menu. Eastlit’s archive can be used for navigation, too. Hopefully it will also give you an opportunity to read some of the less read pieces. After all, we all know well read does not always mean the best!

The next issue of Eastlit will be out around the end of March or start of April.

Please note that we have a policy of excluding all the covers, content pages, contributor lists etc from these statistics.

Best Read Asian Literature Last Seven Day:

1. A Descendent of Emperor Shang Tang by Minglu Zeng (December 2014).
2. The Paddle Steamer by Iftekhar Sayeed (March 2015).
3. Return to Gander by Xiaowen Zeng (March 2015).
4. The White Fox by L.P. Lee (March 2015).
5. High Water by Reid Mitchell (March 2015).

Best Read Asian Literature Last Thirty Days:

1. Ashwin Mudigonda: An Eastlit interview by Graham Lawrence (March 2015).
2. Return to Gander by Xiaowen Zeng (March 2015).
3. Morning Music by Jonathan Ng (March 2015).
4. High Water by Reid Mitchell (March 2015).
5. Mr. Ranjan’s Student by Nadeem Zaman (March 2015).

Best Read Asian Literature All Time:

1. Ishinomaki by Cesar Polvorosa Jr. (February 2014).
2. The Foreign Man Is Prepared to Take Everything in His Stride by Connla Stokes (July 2014).
3. Smoke and Mirrors by Sayantan Ghosh (April 2014).
4. The Bicentennial by Cesar Polvorosa Jr. (June 2014).
5. Going Back to Emerald Hill by Chew Yi Wei (April 2013).
6. The Puppet Tree by Andrew J. West (October 2013).
7. A Veil of Silk by Jared Angel (June 2014).
8. Bluebird Island by Pauline Lacanilao (December 2013).
9. Translucence & The Exile by James Underwood (December 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.
• +33% August 2014 on August 2013.
• +21% September 2014 on September 2013.
• +2% October 2014 on October 2013.
• +32% November 2014 on November 2013.
• +26% December 2014 on December 2013.
• +32% January 2015 on January 2014.
• +11% February 2015 on February 2014.

Top Ten Countries in Alphabetical Order:

• Bangladesh
• China & Hong Kong
• India
• Malaysia
• Philippines
• Singapore
• Thailand
• United Kingdom
• United States
• Vietnam

Cheers and Enjoy.

Graham

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The current lists of popular Asian writing found in Eastlit are finally ready! As always we have included the most popular Asian fiction, poetry, artwork and non-fiction of the past seven and thirty days. The popular all time list has also been updated too. By popular request, we continue to provide direct links to the pieces on our lists.

All of this popular Asian writing and artwork can be accessed from the links on the page or by navigating through the links in the top bar, or you can use the Eastlit archive. It also gives you another chance read some of the less popular pieces. As we all know popular does not always mean best!

The first 2015 issue of Eastlit will be out around early January.

Please note that we have a policy of excluding all the covers, content pages, contributor lists etc from these statistics.

Popular Asian Writing Last Seven Days

1. Translucence and The Exile by James Underwood (December 2014).
2. A Descendant of the Emperor Shang by Minglu Zeng (December 2014).
3. A Veil of Silk by Jared Angel (June 2014).
4. The Sarawak Club by Colin W. Campbell (September 2013).
5. Rain by Lu Yu (December 2014).

Popular Asian Writing Last Thirty Days:

1. Translucence and The Exile by James Underwood (December 2014).
2. A Descendant of the Emperor Shang by Minglu Zeng (December 2014).
3. Ishinomaki by Cesar Polvorosa Jr. (February 2014).
4. Great Goddess by Andrew J. West (December 2014).
5. Brünnhilde’s Immolation by Daniel Emlyn-Jones (December 2014).

Popular Asian Writing All Time:

1. Ishinomaki by Cesar Polvorosa Jr. (February 2014).
2. The Foreign Man Is Prepared to Take Everything in His Stride by Connla Stokes (July 2014).
3. Smoke and Mirrors by Sayantan Ghosh (April 2014).
4. The Bicentennial by Cesar Polvorosa Jr. (June 2014).
5. Going Back to Emerald Hill by Chew Yi Wei (April 2013).
6. The Puppet Tree by Andrew J. West (October 2013).
7. Bluebird Island by Pauline Lacanilao (December 2013).
8. A Veil of Silk by Jared Angel (June 2014).
9. One Day Friends by Ralph Catedral (February 2014).
10. Why I Write by Qui-Phiet Tran (April 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.
• +33% August 2014 on August 2013.
• +21% September 2014 on September 2013.
• +2% October 2014 on October 2013.
• +32% November 2014 on November 2013.

Top Ten Countries in Alphabetical Order:

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

Cheers and Enjoy.

Graham

The post Popular Asian Writing: Eastlit appeared first on Eastlit.

Editorial Board

Since Bryn has departed, I have added some extra members to our editorial board. They are Iain Maloney, Xenia Taiga, Arkava Das and Stuart Coward. There a few others still under consideration.

The board will read and decide on publication of all submitted pieces that meet Eastlit guidelines. Not every board member will be involved every month.

Eastlit Published Writers

It is great to be able to say a couple of our more regular contributors have recently had books published.

Anna Yin

Anna has just seen the publication of a collection of her poems by Mosaic Press. We wish her all the best and hope that her exceptional poetry gets the attention and recognition it deserves. It is always nice to see work that takes the influences of the region get published. Well done Anna. You can find interviews, news and events on her website.

Here is some promotional information:

Inhaling the Silence is another of Anna Yin’s fine collections of poetry (Mosaic Press 2013). It includes 57 poems and is grouped into two sections: Night Songs and This Blue Planet. Anna brings many qualities of classic Chinese poetry into fluent, distinctive English and reveals a truly trans-national voice and sensibility, nourished by landscapes and cultures across the globe.  The merging of Oriental East and Occidental West is woven together on a delicate tapestry in this book. Anna has a receptive and meditative soul and what she has inhaled in the silence, she generously breaths back in life giving speech—this poetic missive is oxygen for the soul in an age when the contemplative approach to life is desperately needed as a corrective the addictive hyper-activism of many in the west in which many see but see little.

Anna Yin had four poems published by Eastlit in March, and another three poems published in May.

Tendai R. Mwanaka

Tendai, although writing primarily of Africa, was featured in Eastlit earlier this year with some poems touching on Asian issues and feeling. His third book Zimbabwe: The Blame Game has just been published by Langaa RPCIG of Cameroon. It is a collection of interlinked creative non-fiction pieces on Zimbabwe. It can be ordered from Langaa or the African Books Collective. A sample is available on Google. Congratulations Tendai. We wish you well.

Here is what the back cover Synopsis says:

Zimbabwe: The Blame Game is a cycle of creative non-fiction pieces, pulling the readers through the politics of modern day Zimbabwe. 

Like in any game, there are players in this game, opposing each other. The game is told through the eyes of one of the players, thus it is subjective. 

It centres on truthfully trying to find who to blame for Zimbabwe’s problems, and how to undo all these problems. Finding who to blame should be the beginning for the search of solutions. It encourages talking to each other, maybe about the wrongs we have done to each other, and genuinely trying to embrace and forgive each other. 

In trying to undo the problems in Zimbabwe, it also offers insight or solutions on a larger platform – Africa: particularly South Africa; that it might learn from other African countries that have imploded before it, how to solve its own problems.

You can also read an interview and see what Tendai says about his book at Kubatana.

Tendai had three poems published by Eastlit in April and has another four poems in the current (June 2103) issue.

Other News

We would still like to add some more locals to the editorial board. If you are interested, please contact admin.

I hope to have an e-book downloadable issue of Eastlit ready for trial soon. The first one will be the inaugural issue. It is easier enough to convert to a PDF, but I am actually looking at creating an e-pub file so that it can be easier read on a tablet or smart phone.

I would also like to mention a French language online journal Vents Alizés run by Károly Sándor Pallai whose poetry was featured in the current (June) issue of Eastlit. They are currently accepting submissions on the theme of Time. They will consider pieces outside of the theme. So if you have work in French, or are a French reader, give it a look. They will also accept pieces in other languages.

Well that is enough for now. I am off to enjoy some unseasonal cooling breezes coming in from the Gulf.

Cheers.

Graham.

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Eastern Poetry and Eastlit.

Since we launched Eastlit we have seen the tradition of poetry continue. Spread across each issue we have often found more poems than pieces of prose. There has been a strong cast of poetry from locals experimenting in English. This has been complimented by both locals and others continuing in the traditional genres and styles of Eastern poetry. Plus we have seen the modern addition of poetry covering living away from the East.

In issue one we saw the Mahanaya Buddhist inspired poetry of Arkava Das. As the months have ticked by we have seen the modern poems of third culture by Valerie Wong. Student Zach Wilson tried a more traditional Western Dao. Colin Campbell contributed Haiku from Sarawak as well as traditional Malaysian pantoums. Anna Yin has more recently added in her own unique style with poems touching on the old, traditional and modern. She features in both the March and May issues of Eastlit. Rose Lu has helped in continuing the strong showing that we have seen by Chinese women writing poetry in English.

At Eastlit we are proud to be able to offer a medium to showcase this continuing tradition of Eastern Poetry. We are happy to be part of its ongoing development as East meets West and the combination creates something new.

Thank you to all the poets engaged in the poetry of the East in all its current meanings. We will continue to work with you to bring what you create to our readers.

Cheers

Graham

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