On 24 November 2015, at the Helena May, Central, Hong Kong, local publishers Proverse Hong Kong held their seventh annual International Proverse Prize Award and book launch.
Two Hong Kong residents, Celia Claase and Philip Chatting, each received prizes – book publication and a cash prize – as Winners of the 2014 Proverse Prize.
The Finalists for the international Proverse Prize 2015 were announced by Dr Verner Bickley, MBE, co-founder of the Proverse Prize. They are Lawrence Gray, founding president of the Hong Kong Writers’ Circle and Gustav Preller, who flew in from his home in South Africa to attend the event. They as well as all entrants were congratulated for their submissions.
Two new honorary advisors to the Proverse Prize were announced, Peter Sidorko, University of Hong Kong Librarian and translator Margaret Clarke in Oxford, UK. They join Bahamian poet Marion Bethel; UK linguist & lexicographer David Crystal; Swedish linguist Björn Jernudd; Singapore poet Edwin Thumbo and Czech novelist & poet Olga Wallό.
Celia and Philip each gave a talk introducing their winning books.
In her response to a question from the floor, South African Celia Claase said she would not have written her book if she had not come to Hong Kong, with her family, to live and work.
Repeating what he said earlier in the week on Phil Whelan’s Radio Three programme, “Morning Brew”, Philip Chatting emphasised the discipline required to complete a full-length book.
Philip Chatting's book, The Snow Bridge and Other Stories and Celia Claase’s The Layers Between (a collection of “fantasophical” essays and poems) are distributed by the Chinese University of Hong Kong Press (Shatin). Available online, they can also be ordered from Hong Kong bookstores.
Several other authors who have been published by Proverse were also present and were introduced.
One of the guests most kindly took photographs of the event. These will be shown on this page very soon.
All the books already published are available from the Chinese University of Hong Kong Press, who distribute worldwide for Proverse Hong Kong. They can also be ordered from bookshops in Hong Kong and the United Kingdom and are available from various online book retailers.
