HEAT Joins One-way Streetʼs Literary Round Table

We are pleased to announce that HEAT is one of five independent literary journals and platforms partnering with Chinese literary journal, One-way Street, on its innovative New Voice project.

One-way Street Journal is owned by OWSPACE, a nineteen-year-old independent bookstore in Beijing. Its New Voice project is supported by Pro Helvetia Shanghai / Swiss Arts Council. HEAT is joined by Specimen/The Babel Review of Translations in Switzerland, Jalada Africa in Africa, The Stinging Fly in Ireland and Cardenal Revista Literaria in Mexico. 

New Voice is a program dedicated to exploring new approaches to literature, and building new spaces for communication and literary collaboration in the post-pandemic era. Over the course of the project, each journal will select works from emerging writers in three forms: the short story, creative nonfiction, and poetry, bringing together a diverse group of eighteen voices whose translated work will feature in an upcoming issue of One-way Street. One-way Street also hopes to invite overseas writers to China for literary residencies and cultural activities. The eighteen chosen pieces will be released to global literary institutions and readers all around the world, encouraging further reading, promotion, and publication.

The project runs from 2023 to 2024, during which time One-way Street will host international online events celebrating the short story, creative nonfiction and poetry. Established writers from Ireland, Africa, Switzerland, Australia and Mexico working in these disciplines will talk about their creative environments, experiences and challenges, and discuss the current state of literature in their countries. It will be a unique opportunity for domestic and international writers and readers to learn more about the creative practices of authors working in different languages and cultures.

The second New Voice literary round table took place in May, and featured Oscar Schwartz, whose essay ‘Father Figures’ appears in HEAT Series 3 Number 6. Oscar was joined by Bai Lin on behalf of One-way Street, Roisin Kiberd on behalf of The Stinging Fly, and Wanjeri Gakuru representing Jalada Africa. Their insightful conversation, ‘Where to Search for Truer Stories’, can be viewed below.