2021
Annihilation: When Adaptation Becomes Transformation
- Published in ‘Adaption’, issue #6 of The Reel Thing, a zine by the Oxford Film Appreciation Society.
Film adaptations often get a bad rap for diverging too far from their source material. Alex Garland’s 2019 film Annihilation avoids these comparisons by making the process of adaptation itself reflect the film’s themes of doubles and transformation.
The Big Queer Monster
- Published by the Isis, Oxford University, for their Trinity 2021 issue, ‘Treehouse’.
Lil Nas X sparked controversy with the music video for his single Montero, yet its bold, explicit imagery follows a long tradition of queer identification with the cultural figure of the monster.
2020
Express to Beijing West Railway Station – Congyun “Mu Ming” Gu
《开往西站的特别列车》 – 慕明
- Published by Samovar in their in the October 2020 issue.
- Recommended by Tor.com, Must-Read Speculative Short Fiction: October 2020.
- Finalist for the 2021 Ignyte Awards in Best Short Story.
- Featured by the Leeds Centre for New Chinese Writing for their January/February 2023 author feature.
One night, after taking the wrong train, our narrator finds himself in an alternative version of Beijing West Railway Station, where he is given the opportunity to change the trajectory of his whole life.
Forty Days: Growing Closer to My Parents During Quarantine – Deng Anqing
《隔离在家一个月，我与父母的关系变好了》 – 邓安庆
- Translated collaboratively as part of the Give-it-a-Go translation project, run by the Leeds Centre for New Chinese Writing and Paper Republic.
- Published on the Writing Chinese website as the final instalment in the Read Paper Republic: Epidemic essay series.
Author Deng Anqing reflects on his experiences at home during the Coronavirus pandemic, and how his relationship with his parents has evolved.
2019
Jade Life: In Conversation with Andrew Shaw
- Published on the Bookworm Festival Pulse blog for the Bookworm International Literary Festival, Beijing 2019.
English-born Andrew Shaw is China’s only foreign master carver of jade. Over the course of one hour, he discusses his personal history with jade carving and the significance of jade for Chinese culture.
Kiera Johnson Translations 