IMPRINT 2009: THE ANNUAL ANTHOLOGY OF WOMEN IN PUBLISHING SOCIETY HONGKONG
Women in Publishing Society Hongkong, HK$50 (US$6.45)
In the ongoing pursuit of gender equality in today’s society, there is hardly an occupation that is gender specific.
Deeply oppressed until the recent decades, women now occupy top posts in Fortune 500 companies and governments, as well as rule the world of publishing.
Currently in its eighth year, Imprint 2009 is the annually produced official journal of the Women in Publishing Society (WiPS) Hongkong. It is a collection of writings and visual works by WiPS members, including professional writers, editors, poets, teachers and lawyers – among them, bestselling author and honorary patron Adeline Yen Mah.
While Yen Mah did not contribute, this year’s edition comprises a wide range of short stories, poems and essays as well as paintings and photographs by 46 members from over 13 countries.
Setting the tone of the book is a four-paragraph preface, in which Hongkong legislator Audrey Eu cites a quote by Eleanor Roosevelt: “A woman is like a teabag, you never know how strong she is until she gets into hot water.”
The A5-sized book is presented in the simplest of ways, with a few illustrations in colour, and black lettering on almost-white pages that have grey edges, marked with the various themes for easy reading.
The stories are organised into seven themes – Short Tales, Re/verse, Life’s Rich Tapestry, Gallery, A Sense of Place, Di/verse and A Winner. The writing, on the whole, is personal and emotional. While I frankly do not find much difference between the writings of women and their male counterparts, I did enjoy reading the many stories and poems compiled.
There are a wide variety of topics, so while the short stories generally centred on Asian society and are set in places like Hongkong, Vietnam and Laos, there are also travel essays, many of which are the writers’ personal experiences and memoirs.
My favourites are “Clink, Clink, Clink”, an emotional short story about a tinnitus sufferer by language teacher Petra Leunig and poet Judy Keung’s nature-inspired piece titled “A Glow of Life”.
The back section of the book – all of 31 pages – is the WiPS members’ directory,which serves as a means of helping the members to network and look for professionals in various aspects of the publishing industry.
Admittedly though, it can be rather easy to misinterpret the book’s intentions, but for those who expect a book like this to be an exaltation of all things feminist and a strong beacon of women’s achievements, I must say it is nothing of the sort.
Although the book serves both as a journal of the WiPS and a showcase for its members’ writing talents, its contents are not generally centred on women. At some point though, the book does seem like something by women and for women, but the best way to appreciate this book, I found, is to set aside all thoughts and simply take it in with an open mind.
Joshua Tan
