The Hong Kong Poetic Community: Ten Poets’ Experiences

Abstract

Because publishing is by definition a public act of creativity, the development of a poetic or literary community is inextricably tied to the development of individual writers within the community. This article attempts to delineate the Hong Kong poetic community through an analysis of the experiences of ten poets who are participants in the Hong Kong community. They were interviewed by the author from 2009 to 2010 as part of a larger study on Asian poetry in English (Lam, 2014). Using extracts from a book on that study, this article addresses how the community has supported the poet's development, how they in turn have contributed to the growth of the community and their resultant sense of poetic community. Four of them came from English-speaking countries and one from the China mainland while the other five were born in Hong Kong. While not all the poets had their initial publications in Hong Kong, they have all benefitted from support from Hong Kong. And regardless of their provenance, they have all contributed to the growth of the community in various ways. In terms of their identification, a whole range of communities, from the local to the international or virtual, were reported. This is consistent with Hong Kong's position as an international city with a Chinese centre.