Description

In association with the Leeds Centre for New Chinese Writing, and as part of the Festival of New Chinese Writing from Around the World, we’re delighted to welcome Melissa Fu and Jennifer Wong for a special conversation to talk about Melissa’s novel Peach Blossom Spring, published this year by Wildfire.

In association with the Leeds Centre for New Chinese Writing, and as part of the Festival of New Chinese Writing from Around the World, we’re delighted to welcome Melissa Fu and Jennifer Wong for a special conversation to talk about Melissa’s novel Peach Blossom Spring, published this year by Wildfire.

Spanning continents and generations, Peach Blossom Spring tells a powerfully moving and beautifully nuanced tale of loss, hope and belonging that opens a window into the history of modern China through one family’s story.

Melissa Fu grew up in Northern New Mexico and now lives near Cambridge, UK, with her husband and children. With academic backgrounds in physics and English, she has worked in education as a teacher, curriculum developer, and consultant. Melissa was the regional winner of the Words and Women 2016 Prose Competition and was a 2017 Apprentice with the London-based Word Factory. In 2018/2019, Melissa was the David TK Wong Fellow at the University of East Anglia. Peach Blossom Spring is her first novel.

Born in Hong Kong and now living in the UK, Jennifer Wong is a poet and translator. Her collection, 回家 Letters Home, published by Nine Arches Press in 2020, has been named a Wild Card choice by Poetry Book Society. She is also the author of Goldfish (Chameleon Press 2013) – which won the Hong Kong Arts Development Council Young Artist Award (Literary Arts) and a pamphlet, Diary of a Miu Miu Salesgirl (Bitter Melon Poetry 2019). In 2021, Jennifer was a writer-in-residence with Wasafiri. She is currently a visiting fellow with Oxford TORCH.

Find our more about the Leeds Centre for New Chinese Writing on their website: https://writingchinese.leeds.ac.uk/

Melissa Fu grew up in Northern New Mexico and now lives near Cambridge, UK, with her husband and children. With academic backgrounds in physics and English, she has worked in education as a teacher, curriculum developer, and consultant. Melissa was the regional winner of the Words and Women 2016 Prose Competition and was a 2017 Apprentice with the London-based Word Factory. In 2018/2019, Melissa was the David TK Wong Fellow at the University of East Anglia. Peach Blossom Spring is her first novel.

Born in Hong Kong and now living in the UK, Jennifer Wong is a poet and translator. Her collection, 回家 Letters Home, published by Nine Arches Press in 2020, has been named a Wild Card choice by Poetry Book Society. She is also the author of Goldfish (Chameleon Press 2013) – which won the Hong Kong Arts Development Council Young Artist Award (Literary Arts) and a pamphlet, Diary of a Miu Miu Salesgirl (Bitter Melon Poetry 2019). In 2021, Jennifer was a writer-in-residence with Wasafiri. She is currently a visiting fellow with Oxford TORCH.

Find out more about the Leeds Centre for New Chinese Writing on their website: https://writingchinese.leeds.ac.uk