Bøger af Wena Poon

Shanghai, 1936. On the eve of World War II, the Jewish, Chinese and Japanese customers of a famous Viennese café on Zhoushan Road get together for an international project: to bake the 'king of the cakes', the legendary German baumkuchen. Fully illustrated with modern and vintage photography. This new edition includes a Chinese excerpt translated by the author and performed to Chinese audiences.

"Short, sharp, bang-up-to-date prose, full of irony and wit...unmistakably 21st century, the language of modern western civilization." - Short Fiction in Theory & Practice, UK Critically-acclaimed, humorous, and celebratory, these English-language stories of "Asia in the West; the West in Asia" were previously only available in Asia. Here they are presented, for the first time, in a new international edition with the author's black and white photography. Nominated for both the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award and the Singapore Literature Prize.

"Vivid and highly addictive" - the BBC A strange turn of Fate forces Emperor Taliesin to travel incognito in Jing as Scholar Ping: playwright and boy actress, famed for his sexual comedies for the Jing operatic stage. Convinced that she had lost him forever, Sei Shonagon disguises herself as a man and embarks on a mission for a haunted lute that would solve all her problems. Our story takes place nine years after Voyage to the Dark Kirin - enough time for the Barbarian Armies to multiply, Lord Paisley to finish building the Great Wall, and Takanoha's adopted daughters to grow up and start rattling their sabers. The Marquis of Disobedience is the third novel of the Hoshimaruhon series, a wonderfully funny, sexy, swashbuckling romp through the familiar landscape of Chinese literary classics and Japanese samurai epics, stylishly delivered, as its opening credits promise, "in modern English and in full Technicolor". Rated (R) for Adult Themes.

"Vivid and highly addictive" - the BBC. Tired of administering his kingdom ever since he was a child, Taliesin, the Son of Heaven and the 33rd Emperor of Jing, decides to max out his budget. He sets sail with a hundred glorious treasure ships to hunt down the mythical black unicorn. "Shonagon's in charge," he announces to the appalled Ministers of Cabinet. Can the divine swordswoman Sei Shonagon outwit Machiavellian dukes, quell unruly ronin, and fight rebellious Noh ninja on her own? Or does she need help from the handsome but terribly prim priest, Takanoha? Voyage to the Dark Kirin is the second novel of the Hoshimaruhon series, a wonderfully funny, sexy, swashbuckling romp through the familiar landscape of Chinese and Japanese swordfighting epics, stylishly delivered, as its opening credits promise, "in modern English and in full Technicolor". Rated (R) for Adult Themes.

"My name is Arthur Hayashi. I was born in Manchuria in 1910." When Japan surrendered to the Allies at the end of WWII, more than 6 million of their citizens were left stranded abroad. In China alone there were 2.6 million Japanese, including many women and children, despised by the world and forgotten by their government. Determined to survive, the brilliant and mercurial military doctor Arthur Hayashi hid in Communist China for decades and left his grand-daughter an unforgettable legacy. Named after the ancient Chinese city on which Kyoto was modeled, Chang'an is a refreshingly unconventional take on Japan, China and the modern quest to end decades of bitterness.

10th Anniversary Edition with author's black and white photography of Singapore. Shortlisted for Ireland's Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award and the Singapore Literature Prize. "If there is ever a book for the Singaporean overseas or those preparing to leave home, this will be it. Read Wena Poon's classic, Lions In Winter." Overseas Singaporean Magazine "The exile returns to illuminate an intimate part of Singapore, and does so quite beautifully." TIME Magazine These stories, about Singaporean Chinese emigrés in the West, were written in America and published in the late 1990s and early 2000s. At the time, nobody was interested in examining the role and identity of the modern, English-speaking Chinese outside of Asia. Since then, the diaspora of Chinese youth has grown too large to ignore, fueled by the dramatic increase in Chinese students in the universities of US, UK, Canada and Australia. Lions in Winter is but one facet of a modern, transnational Chinese identity that has just begun to take shape.

Maxine, Aoki, Beto and Me is a hilarious collection of stories about modern cosmopolitans trying to make the best out of a planet besieged by natural disasters, economic downturns, and political strife. Published in international literary journals in the last two years, these award-winning stories form Wena Poon's third book of globetrotting short fiction. They are published together for the first time with her black and white photography.

Ramen, also known as chukka soba (Chinese noodles), originated in China and spread to Japan in the 1880's. Japanese troops returning from colonial Manchuria further popularized this dish. During the last days of the Second World War, a Japanese military officer revisits this bittersweet legacy on the streets of Occupied Singapore. This short story is written in English and Chinese (simple script) for English-speaking students of the Chinese language. Illustrated with black and white photographs of Japan and Singapore. Features a photo gallery, with explanations, of noodle dishes in Japan, China, Singapore, Hong Kong and America. For literature students, it also includes a study guide by the author.

The last word on madeleines...novelist Wena Poon, author of the WWII Viennese bakery story Cafe Jause, writes humorously about how to perfect something which you could just as easily buy from a store. A small booklet, with pictures and kitchen-tested recipe perfect for any man, woman, or precocious teen.

At the turn of the 20th century, thousands of poor Japanese girls were tricked or kidnapped by zegen - Japanese "impresarios". The girls were smuggled onto steamships and sent to Singapore, where they were sold for sex to a largely male population while the British authorities struggled to contain prostitution and disease. In 1906, a young magistrate in Nagasaki meets the son of a prostitute, who tells him an incredible story of human trafficking. The two men recruit Sparrow, an American woman boxer and stowaway, who had no money and was "basically game for anything". The three friends hide themselves on board the luxury steamship the Tobi Maru bound for Singapore in pursuit of the greatest zegen of all, the legendary Oguri.

"Unfolds in sharply-written, understated scenes." -The Japan Times From 1945-1952, Japan was occupied by America. It was America's most significant experience of being a colonial government. For the Japanese, it was a period of suspicion and humiliation. For the Americans, it was a chance to experience a people they had only known across the battlefield. Despite the brevity of the contact, some Americans left with a lifelong love for the country. This is their story.

What if the last samurai was a woman? 1868. In the East, a tired band of samurai called the Shinsengumi are about to be wiped out by imported French rifles, bringing an end to 268 years of Shogunate rule. In the West, typewriters, telegrams, and universities for women have just been invented. Amanda Irving, partner in a Boston shipbuilding firm, has overseen the construction of America's most advanced ironclad warship. Construction took so long that the American Civil War ended before it could be deployed. She receives an unexpected offer for the ship from the Japanese. From post-Civil War Massachusetts to the snowy battlefields of Hokkaido, Amanda & the Shinsengumi tells the surprising, cross-cultural story of men and women in a global culture not very different from ours today. Not a true story.

In 2010, Poon's novel Alex y Robert was broadcast as a BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime and enchanted British audiences with the unlikely tale of an American woman matador in modern Spain. In order to write Novillera, its sequel, Poon trekked across Spain and France, hung out with trainee bullfighters, braved fly-ridden bull ranches, and fought 12 small toro in order to deliver to readers the closest fictional approximation of a front row seat in "crystal-clear surround sound." "I had all these typical urban hipster preconceived notions about bullfighting." - Wena Poon in the VICE interview "The Beauty and Moral Ambiguity of Bullfighting". "Not since Hemingway have we seen such an insightful treatment of the divisive subject of bullfighting." - Asia Literary Review. "Shows what happens when a yuppie teen from the New World...realizes her destiny to take up one of the oldest Spanish customs and break down the doors which have always been shut to women." - Huffington Post. Re-issued as a 2nd edition in a 6 x 9 inch format, with a book jacket to match the new "Alex y Robert: The Illustrated Edition." Includes a new foreword by the author on women and bullfighting.

A BBC Book At Bedtime. In 1959, two famous Spanish matadors who were best friends perished in the bullring. "Alex y Robert" is the witty, modern fable of their grandchildren: Alejandra, a young American woman determined to become a matador, and Roberto, a reluctant star Spanish bullfighter whom she recruits to help her. Part travel adventure, part cultural critique, the novel portrays man's complex relationship with animals and a new generation's surprising take on an ancient and controversial spectacle. "With Daria-like dry humor, the novel shows what happens when a yuppie teen from the New World takes up one of the oldest Spanish customs and breaks down the doors which have always been shut to women." - Huffington Post New illustrated edition in 6 x 9 inch format, featuring the author's Spain bullfighting photography.

Five million English-speaking Chinese, Indians and Malays live in Singapore today - an artificial port city created entirely by British traders in the 19th century. In her vivid stories, the Singapore-born American writer Wena Poon captures the true urban sophistication of New Asia and the journey of an eclectic people coming to terms with their cultural legacy. -- Wena Poon