East and Southeast Asian Publishing Network partners with Foyles to launch literary festival

The East and Southeast Asian (ESEA) Publishing Network has partnered with Foyles to launch a literary festival.

The East and Southeast Asian Festival (ESEA Lit Fest) will launch at Foyles’ flagship Charing Cross branch with a series of live ticketed events and workshops for the public on 23rd September, during ESEA Heritage Month.

The ESEA Publishing Network was founded in 2022 by Maria Garbutt-Lucero, publicity director at Sceptre, and Joanna Lee, commissioning editor at Atlantic Books, to amplify the voices of East and Southeast Asian writers and promote regional talent working across the UK publishing industry.

The network is run by volunteers and aims to create a space for publishing professionals to "connect, collaborate, and celebrate work from the community, as well as provide a collective voice with which to enact change", said the organisers. It is open to all ESEA publishing professionals and those looking to break into the industry.

East Asia covers China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, while Southeast Asia encompasses Brunei, Myanmar (Burma), Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Over 100 professionals from across the publishing industry, including authors, editors, agents, journalists, publicists, marketeers, sales reps, production managers, designers and interns, attended the ESEA Publishing Network launch party hosted in partnership with THRIVE at Hachette UK last September.

Garbutt-Lucero said: “Growing up in London, I have long felt the dearth of literature available by East and Southeast Asians, particularly British voices. We want to change that for future generations. The ESEA Publishing Network is very much inspired by the work of people like Helena Lee, who created the East Side Voices salon in 2020; besea.n, which launched ESEA Heritage Month in 2021; and Celestial Peach, who brings the ESEA foodie community together through potlucks and fundraisers.

“We’re also inspired by organisations like the Black Writers’ Guild and BAE who united to make change within the publishing industry. Big thanks to THRIVE and Hachette UK for their support of the network and I’m grateful to Eleni Lawrence, Nick Davies and Maura Wilding for their encouragement and advice in setting up this initiative."

Lee added: “Launching the ESEA Publishing Network at Carmelite House was an incredibly powerful experience. Seeing the solidarity and connection physically manifest in one space was amazing and it’s clear just how many people were crying out for a group like this. I’m incredibly excited for future plans.”

Submissions for speakers and festival sponsors are now open until Friday 3rd February. Anyone interested is invited to email eseapublishingnetwork@gmail.com.