Monday June 08, 2009
ThingsAsian Press booth at Book Expo America.
Book Expo America is the place for publishers to showcase their books to booksellers, librarians, and other industry professionals. ThingsAsian Press attended the show at the Javitz Center in New York for the first time this year, with a prominent corner booth in the Ingram Publisher Services section.
The booth featured ThingsAsian's newest titles, Tone Deaf in Bangkok ... and Other Places and To Myanmar With Love: A Travel Guide for the Connoisseur, as well as a selection of backlist titles. The books' vibrant covers and beautiful designs drew a great deal of attention, keeping the ThingsAsian team busy all weekend. By day three, we were all exhausted, having shared information about the books with hundreds of people.
Tone Deaf was a particularly exciting title to share. Although it was just released, many booksellers had already heard the buzz surrounding it (truly one of the best travel books written in ages), and those who had already read it raved. Happily, To Myanmar With Love received a warm reception, despite the controversy that surrounds the country. We hope this book leads the public to a greater understanding of the people of Myanmar---toward an understanding that there is a rich culture beyond the damning political curtain that has been drawn over the country.
Weekend highlights included all of the people who sought out the booth for our popular giveaways---we gave away 500 ThingsAsian book bags; thousands of lovely notebooks featuring ThingsAsian Press book covers; and hundreds of posters ... not to mention copies of our new titles. It was an exciting weekend for To Vietnam With Love: A Travel Guide for the Connoisseur, which received second place in the travel guidebook category at the Indepedent Publisher Book Awards.
Many thanks to my ThingsAsian partners-in-crime for a wonderful, successful weekend: Janet Brown, ThingsAsian editor and author of Tone Deaf; Nabanita Dutt, ThingsAsian writer and volume editor for To North India With Love: A Travel Guide for the Connoisseur; Nana Chen, photographer for Tone Deaf, To North India With Love, and numerous other ThingsAsian projects; and Connie Brooks, friend of ThingsAsian Press and box-maker extraordinaire.
Receiving an Independent Publisher Book Award ... we're not sure how the models fit in!
07:51 PM PDT
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Monday May 18, 2009
I have just returned from a month in Asia. I caught up with old friends in Vietnam, explored northeastern Cambodia (including two days biking along the Mekong River outside Kratie), and spent a week in Bangkok meeting ThingsAsian Press writers, editors, photographers, illustrators and translators. For the most part, ThingsAsian relationships rely on Cyberspace. I have worked with some people for years without ever hearing their voices. This week was an amazing opportunity to put faces to names, have long conversations, and feed on the creative energy that makes up the ThingsAsian community.
The highlight of the week was a Sunday night party at Nomad restaurant, where about 65 ThingsAsian contributors gathered to celebrate the publication of To Myanmar With Love and Tone Deaf in Bangkok. Many of the contributors to the Myanmar book were were on hand to eat, drink and socialize, and Tone Deaf author Janet Brown can be credited with making the party a huge success---she organized the entire affair and proved that she is as good at party planning as she is at writing. The evening peaked with some entertaining interpretive moves on the dance floor and a small group of night owls hunkered over a hookah pipe!
The most exciting aspect of working for ThingsAsian Press is that everything is a collaboration. Publisher Albert Wen thrives on bringing creative types together just to see what might happen. The result is always surprising and thrilling. Numerous new book ideas were hatched during our weeklong "Bangkok Summit," while two ThingsAsian series were strengthened and expanded. Look for North India, Nepal, Cambodia and Thailand books to join the To Asia With Love guidebook series in the upcoming year, and a wide selection of volumes to join our children's primer series that began with H is for Hong Kong. Check out the ThingsAsian website page for a full list of titles.
To Myanmar With Love contributors Donald Gilliland and Jan Polatschek practice donning traditional Myanmar longyi.
ThingsAsian Press publisher Albert Wen with book designer Janet McKelpin and translator Michelle Lai Wong.
Writer John Padorr and photographer Hans Kemp check out new ThingsAsian Press titles.
Editor Nabanita Dutt socializes with writers Emily Huckson and Adam Bray.
04:49 PM PDT
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Friday February 13, 2009
With To Myanmar With Love at the printer, it won't be long before this exciting guidebook hits bookstores and online retailers. To whet your appetite, I've posted ten full essays online.
From the wild river dolphins outside Mandalay to ethnic noodles in Yangon, the subject of each essay offers a unique look at this little-understood country. Writers teach you how to spit like a local, take you to a spirit festival led by transvestites, and guide you up a mountain to experience a night under the stars at the Buddhist pilgrimage site, Golden Rock. And in an essay from "Paying it Forward," my favorite chapter in each of the To Asia With Love guidebooks, you will also learn how to donate to a local library. Win Thuya's story about establishing this library for locals is just one of many about how you can give back to Myanmar when you visit.
Whether you're planning a trip or just want to learn more about Myanmar, make sure to check out the To Myanmar With Love page on the ThingsAsian website.
05:25 PM PST
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Sunday January 25, 2009
Fish vendors in Hoi An
Along with including the writing of expatriates, experienced travelers, and in-the-know locals, each volume in the To Asia With Love series also showcases a photographer. Our photographers come from around the globe and use their unique perspectives to capture the spirit of their books. It's fair to say that Pacific Northwest native and current Los Angeles and London resident, Julie Fay Ashborn, is our inaugural photographer. Her photographs are featured in the book that inspired the series, To Asia With Love: A Connoisseurs' Guide to Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam, and the first book in the series, To Vietnam With Love: A Travel Guide for the Connoisseur.
Julie seeks scenes that tell a story, as you can see from the sampling of photographs from To Vietnam With Love displayed here: the eagerness of a seafood seller in Nha Trang, the comaraderie of two produce sellers in Dalat, the rustic simplicity of the historic Cha Ca restaurant in Hanoi, and the hard work that it takes to hawk wares every morning at the market in Hoi An. She also specializes in photographing the food of Vietnam, and her images can be found in The Little Saigon Cookbook and the upcoming Communion: A Culinary Journey Through Vietnam (December 2009).
If a picture speaks a thousand words, then the photographs in the To Asia With Love series would fill an entire volume of encyclopedias. While each book has the same beautiful design, it also offers its own distinctive mood through the originality of its photographs.
Fresh crab at the market in Nha Trang
Selling vegetables on the steps of the Dalat Market
The kitchen of Hanoi's historic Cha Ca La Vong restaurant
03:58 PM PST
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Friday January 09, 2009
One of Steve Goodman’s many beautiful photos from To Myanmar With Love
I hope everyone had a good holiday season and is ready for the great line-up of To Asia With Love guidebooks coming out in 2009. What better New Year’s resolution than to take a big trip to Myanmar, Japan, or North India. Those are the volumes you’ll be seeing this year.
Due in May (it’s already on its way to the printer), To Myanmar With Love is amazing. This unique guidebook focuses on culture and people, giving travelers a view of the country not often seen by outsiders. From rafting an uncharted river to dining with 2,700 monks to helping out charities around the country, this is a side of Myanmar you haven’t seen before.
To Japan With Love will hit the bookstores this summer, offering a glimpse of Japan beyond the typical tourist attractions. Ranches, fly fishing, surfing, a tempura bar, walking in Tokyo, thrift store shopping, and even trespassing! These are just a few of the hundreds of insider tips you’ll find here.
Rounding out our year is To North India With Love. Given India’s size and diversity, we are dividing the country into four books. This first volume captures the beauty and grandeur of Delhi and its surrounding area.
Remember, the International Herald Tribune’s Thai Day called the original volume of To Asia With Love "a guide with depth and color that most of [its] competitors lack.” Combining personal stories with practical information, this series immerses you in the experience of traveling throughout Asia.
Check out all our great titles at ThingsAsian Press.
03:05 PM PST
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Tuesday November 25, 2008
The very best thing about the To Asia With Love guidebook series is that each book is a collaboration of writers who love the country they're writing about. It has been so wonderful to receive reactions to To Vietnam With Love from the individuals who contributed to it, especially since each writer holds a special place in my heart.
Among those writers is Duong Lam Anh, who captivated me with his passion for his hometown of Hue, Vietnam's former imperial capital, as well as his desire to share that passion with readers around the world through his blog. I was excited to receive the link to his post announcing both the book and his participation in it. Anh's essays are unique, offering insight into the cultural tradition of bargaining, little known hot springs outside Hue, Hue's famous banh Hue nibbles, and, my favorite, cafés where you can hide away on a cold winter Hue day. I've included that particular essay below. And if you want to read more sample essays from To Vietnam With Love or learn about the contributors, visit the book's main page on ThingsAsian.com.
Duong Lam Anh finds beauty in Hue’s gray winter days
Winter arrived in Hue rather late this year, but it eventually did, as it always does.
Winter in Hue is wet. This is nothing new to the locals, but those from drier regions find it hard to tolerate. With the humidity up to 90 and sometimes even 100 percent, the whole city suddenly turns into a damp sponge. Rain lingers day and night. Drop by drop it enters your heart. It comes as no surprise to see the rain last even for weeks. People are wet. Vehicles are wet. Buildings are wet. Grass is rotten. Paper soon becomes as soft as tissue. You may wake up to find your computer dead without a word of warning. Telephones and other electrical appliances all at once refuse to function. You are late to work because your motorbike suddenly won’t start. That’s that.
Winter in Hue is cold. Eighteen Celsius may mean nothing to those from cold lands, but coupled with the humidity, it chills you to the bone. But the streets look festive with people wrapped up in colorful warm clothes and raincoats. They suddenly seem more formal and decent in suit, vest, and jacket; some even don scarves, gloves, and wool caps.
Winter in Hue is hazy, smoky, and gloomy. The sky is gray the entire day. The whole city looks sleepy in a mist of vapor, smoke, and breath. Leaves turn
dark green and shiver with cold. There is a lot of talk about the weather, and people on the street seem to be in a hurry because they all want to reach
home as quickly as possible. A book, a cup of hot coffee or tea, and some classical music become wise choices.
But despite all sorts of problems and inconveniences that may be caused by the rain and humidity, life must go on. That is what I like best about the winter here. Streets are, as always, crowded with people and vehicles at rush hours. Street stalls serving hot dishes are surrounded by hungry pedestrians. And it seems that tourists do not mind the rain at all. In light casual clothes and with an umbrella or raincoat, they rush around exploring the imperial city.
People who aren’t from here and hate the season call it nasty, horrible, disgusting. Hue natives living far away from home miss it terribly.
Keeping cozy during winter in Hue
Following are three of my favorite cafés for warming up during the winter months.
Vi Da Xua Café
Located in the Vi Da neighborhood, this café recalls the quiet, rustic atmosphere of the area’s once famous village. For the locals, it is a place to cherish memories of the past. For foreigners, it evokes something very Vietnamese. As a cozy nha ruong—--a typical, traditional structure of Hue made entirely of wood—--it is ideal for cold, rainy days. Not too open or too closed: just perfect.
131 Nguyen Sinh Cung St.
Nam Giao Hoai Co Café
A complex of three nha ruong creates this spacious and airy café. Due to its location on the way to the royal tombs, it serves as a pleasant place for visitors to stop by. Though it has open architecture, it doesn’t get too cold when it’s raining, and you can sip a hot coffee or tea while gazing at the rain outside.
321 Dien Bien Phu St.
Xua Café
Unlike in the West, life in Vietnam is lived in the alleys: they are communities within a community. With its very Vietnamese architecture, this café is small enough to keep you warm on rainy days. Its location in an alley far away from the main streets offers peace, quiet, and privacy.
56/6 Nguyen Cong Tru St.
01:38 PM PST
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Tuesday November 11, 2008
In each of the To Asia With Love guidebooks, there are a variety of chapters. Some are unique to each book, such as Meeting People in the Myanmar volume, or Festivals in the Japan volume. Others are standard, including dining, shopping, sightseeing, and my personal favorite: Paying it Forward. This chapter focuses solely on how travelers can make a difference in the countries they visit. While there are some opportunities to donate money, the emphasis is on interaction with and participation in charity groups around each country.
In To Vietnam With Love, one such essay focuses on the Blue Dragon Children's Foundation. In the foundation's own words: "Our mission is to provide opportunities and tools that empower the most disadvantaged children and their families to break out of poverty, forever."
This year, rather than asking for donations, which it can always use, the foundation is selling notecards painted by a sixteen-year-old girl at Blue Dragon who hopes to become an artist. Because we love helping all the wonderful organizations written about in our books, we're excited to share these notecards with you. Just go to Blue Dragon to order yours in time for the holiday season.
To discover more wonderful charity organizations in Vietnam, order your own copy of To Vietnam With Love. And keep an eye out for volumes on Myanmar and Japan coming in the spring of 2009.
05:04 PM PST
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Wednesday October 15, 2008
Well, it's official. Ingram Publisher Services now represents ThingsAsian Press. For booksellers, this means that you can easily order To Asia With Love and To Vietnam With Love directly from Ingram. Of course, you can also get all our other great titles, too. Visit the press's official website for a full list, and make sure to check out new titles, Tone Deaf in Bangkok, by my dear friend Janet Brown, and H is for Hong Kong, yet another beautifully illustrated, bilingual children's title.
To order from Ingram, as well as for information on individual sales and bulk sales, read on.
Booksellers/Retailers
Ingram Publisher Services (IPS) accepts orders in a variety of ways, including through Ingram’s ordering tools ipage® and companion®, phone, fax, and e-mail.
ipage: ipage.ingrambook.com
Phone: (866) 400-5351
Fax: (800) 838-1149
E-mail: customer.service@ingrampublisherservices.com
ACCESS (automated stock check and ordering line): (800) 961-8031
Individual Sales
Books from ThingsAsian Press can be found at local independent bookshops, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and a variety of retail and gift shops throughout North America, Europe, and Asia.
Bulk Sales
Featuring full-color photographs and/or artwork, ThingsAsian Press’s travel, food, and children’s books make unique and elegant gifts. Asia-based corporations can offer them as welcome or thank you gifts to clients, as well as incentive gifts to employees, while travel agencies can present them as supplements to tour packages. Discounts and direct shipping are offered for bulk sales. To find out more, contact Kim Fay at tawl@thingsasian.com.
10:19 AM PDT
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Friday July 25, 2008
It's always thrilling when a colleague receives accolades for her work, so I'm excited to share the news that Celeste Heiter's blog, Chopstick Cinema, has been rated as one of the "Top Ten Asian Food Blogs" by Asian Food Grocer. In the award listing, Asian Food Grocer writes that Celeste's blog is "a clever idea ... with many educational Asian food tidbits along the way, this blog is a unique must-read."
Along with writing every day online about Asian films and the food you can pair with them for themed movie-and-a-dinner nights, Celeste is also the editor of To Japan With Love: A Travel Guide for the Connoisseur, which will be published in early 2009 by ThingsAsian Press. Of course, the book has an enticing food chapter, with essays on tonkatsu (pork cutlet), okonomiyaki (a kind of Japanese pancake), unagi (freshwater eel), and even ramen with a nod á la Celeste's blog to the movie Tampopo. It also features essays on visiting hidden temples, attending sumo matches, taking meditation and pottery courses, and even exploring the Japanese wilderness--cycling, surfing, you name it. From walking across a "nightingale floor" to crawling through Buddha's nose, each of the recommendations is truly unique.
Along with having lived in Japan, Celeste has an abiding love for the country and surrounding region, and it's only fitting that she should be acknowledged for her distinctive contribution to the culture. Congratulations Celeste!
Chopstick Cinema
To Japan With Love at ThingsAsian Press
To Japan With Love at ThingsAsian.com
03:39 PM PDT
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Tuesday July 15, 2008
Gradually, To Vietnam With Love: A Travel Guide for the Connoisseur is making its way into the world. Already available on Amazon, it will soon be offered in bookstores and other retail outlets. My favorite aspect of this book is that it is a collaboration, containing personal essays by more than fifty writers. Among them you will find a film professor, bird watchers, resort owners, charity organizers, war veterans, a photographer, travel guides, teachers, anthropologists, an adoptee, adoptive parents, a restaurant owners, a fitness instructor, a chocolatier, Fulbright scholars, and--of course--professional writers. Some are from Vietnam, many have lived there for years, and others have traveled extensively throughout the country. With so many individual voices, To Vietnam With Love truly is different from other guides.
It was such a pleasure to work with each writer, whose distinctive background and outlook on life enhanced his or her recommendations for some of the most interesting, intriguing, appetizing, and adventurous things to do while you are in Vietnam. To learn more about the writers, click here to check out their biographies at ThingsAsian.com.
ThingsAsian Press
To Vietnam With Love
01:18 PM PDT
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Sunday June 15, 2008
Throughout all the excitement of getting To Vietnam With Love to press and out into the world, we have been steadily working on the upcoming books in the series, and we are nearing completion on one of our most exciting volumes: To Myanmar With Love. Myanmar has spent a lot of time in the news in the past year, for the uprising in September 2007 and the cyclone last month. Lost in all these stories, as well as ongoing stories about the reviled government, are the individuals that make Myanmar such a wonderful country.
In To Myanmar With Love we will be bringing the people and culture to the world, through the voices of expatriates, travelers, and most importantly, the locals who have contributed numerous essays about the places and experiences they love so much. Along with essays about riding in horse carts, sipping wine, chatting with monks, and meeting with hill tribes, there will be an entire chapter on ways that you can contribute to this beautiful country.
Though it's not coming out until this fall, we want to get travelers as excited about this book as we are. Stay tuned for more news here at this blog and at To Myanmar With Love.
ThingsAsian Press
12:26 PM PDT
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Wednesday June 04, 2008
Well, we are just beginning to recover from three full days at Book Expo America (BEA). Representing ThingsAsain Press, Janet Brown and I handed out copies of new titles To Vietnam With Love and Everyday Life. Both were big hits with booksellers, and Everyday Life in particular was ooh'd and ah'd over by librarians, who all expressed interest in carrying this colorful, bilingual (English/Chinese) title. We also attended some Chinese publishing seminars, where the response to Strolling in Macau was fabulous. Everyone wanted a copy of this beautiful guidebook whose focus is architecture, walking tours, and an intriguing Chinese-Portuguese heritage, rather than casinos. We were also popular for the striking orange and red ThingsAsian bags that we were handing out---we gave away hundreds!
Along with meeting booksellers and librarians, the other goal of the convention was to find a distributor for ThingsAsian Press, so books can be easily ordered. This was another area in which we had great success, and soon you will be able to get your hands on To Vietnam With Love and all our other great titles whenever you want. Stay tuned.
ThingsAsian Press
To Vietnam With Love
10:58 AM PDT
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Wednesday May 28, 2008
ThingsAsian Press is excited to announce the launch of its newly revamped website.
Along with finding information on all of the new and upcoming books in the To Asia With Love guidebook series, you will find other great travel, food, children's, and reference titles. Among the highlights are Strolling in Macau, The Sushi Book, and Everyday Life Through Chinese Peasant Art. ThingsAsian Press also features beautiful notecards in its gift section.
If you are at BEA this weekend, Kim Fay and Janet Brown will be roaming the floor, handing out press information and copies of new titles---keep an eye out for the bright orange ThingsAsian Press bookbags. You can also check out a copy of To Vietnam With Love: A Travel Guide for the Connoisseur at the PMA Booth (#724-827).
If you are a bookseller or journalist interested in a title, please contact Kim Fay at tawl@thingsasian.com.
12:05 PM PDT
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Friday May 16, 2008
The acclaimed "To Asia With Love: A Connoisseurs' Guide to Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam" will soon be a comprehensive series of Asia-focused guidebooks with the publication of "To Vietnam With Love: A Travel Guide for the Connoisseur."
Available at the end of June, "To Vietnam With Love" takes readers throughout the country with more than fifty expatriates, travelers, and locals as they reveal their favorite haunts through personal stories. Stay overnight with a local hill tribe, climb Southeast Asia's highest mountain, tour historic French villas, dine on local specialties from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City, and learn how to give back to the country while you're visiting. And that's just the beginning.
If you happen to be at BEA, we will be wandering the floor handing out advance copies---just look out for Kim Fay and Janet Brown carrying bright yellow ThingsAsian Press bags full of goodies to give away. We can also be reached at tawl@thingsasian.com.
For a sneak preview, go to To Vietnam With Love.
03:35 PM PDT
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