NEW FOR 2008:
The Vietnam volume for Things Asian Press' new
To Asia With Love literary guidebook series is heading off to the printer and should be available in June. Next up, Myanmar, available this fall, to be followed by Japan, North India, Thailand, Cambodia, Nepal, and Shanghai.
Communion: A Culinary Journey through Vietnam is nearly done ... finally!
For fun, I have started a new book blog (focused mostly on classics):
Literate in L.A.
Through my participation in the Amazon/
Penguin Publishing Breakthrough Novel Awards, I was "found" by a wonderful agent for my novel, In Yellow Babylon. I'm now busy revising the end so that she can send it out to publishers---wish me luck!
More news to come soon ...
Kim
As of August, I have the great pleasure of working as the managing editor of To Asia With Love, a literary guidebook series for Things Asian Press. Based on my beloved To Asia With Love: A Connoisseurs’ Guide to Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam, the series will include Japan, Burma, Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet, China, India, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, the Philippines. Indonesia and Malaysia. The first eight books in the series will be published in the winter/spring of 2007/2008.
Part travel essay, part cookbook, part history, sociology and philosophy book, Communion: Meditations on Eating in Vietnam explores the culture of Vietnam through its intriguing culinary traditions.
With MFK Fisher aspirations---and accompanied by her photographer sister Julie and best Vietnamese girlfriend Huong—Kim Fay embarked on a five week journey from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City. Together, this trio traveled beyond the world of cyclos, conical hats and war, sampling the flavors of the country’s regions along the way. They became obsessed with clam rice in the imperial city of Hue, discovered the secret world of ragu in the French hill town of Dalat and nearly wept at the freshness of the squid in the seaside enclave of Phan Thiet. Exploring how a country eats during times of famine and feast, and how we eat reflects who we are as individuals and as communities, Fay—who lived in Vietnam for four years—provides a poetic journey and literary feast for armchair epicures.
To be published in spring 2008 by Things Asian Press.
- edited by Kim Fay
- photographs by Julie Fay
To Asia With Love is an amazing guidebook, if I do say so myself. Fifty unique writers joined me in penning personal essays recommending favorite (and often secret) places to eat, shop, unwind, escape and play. Contributors include Lonely Planet author Joe Cummings, Rough Guide author Jan Dodd, Bangkok shopping gurus Nancy and Nima Chandler,
Bangkok Post columnist Roger Crutchley and "FARANG" founder Jim Algie. The writing is singular, the recommendations are thoughtful and the full color photographs--by my sis, Julie Fay--are divine.
To Asia With Love is the perfect complement to your Lonely Planet, and an ideal companion for both actual and armchair travelers.
To read more about
To Asia With Love, click on
More, More, More in the column on the right of this page.
Travel = COMMUNION, EXHILARATION, PEACE
When I'm traveling, I long for music to suit the solitude and restlessness that accompanies nomadic life.
- Ethiopiques #4: amazing jazz from the late sixties/early seventies Ethopia, part snake charmer, part Mancini, with hints of Miles and Hendrix thrown in.
- Talking Timbuktu, by Ali Farka Toure and Ry Cooder.
- Anything by Miles, of course, with the essentials being Ascenseur Pour L'Echafaud and Sketches of Spain.
- Everything by Kris Kristofferson, divine poet and underappreciated wordsmith ... Jesus Was a Capricorn and Sunday Morning Coming Down ... Make sure not to miss his brilliant new CD, This Old Road.
- The soundtrack from City of Ghosts, with its tres cool Cambodian rendition of Both Sides Now by Dengue Fever, Cambodian rock from the sixties and a couple great old French tunes.
- Cat Stevens ... after all, Wild World pretty much says it all ...