A Cha Chaan Teng That Does Not Exist

Derek Chung is an acclaimed poet, essayist, and critic from Hong Kong. The author of eight poetry collections, several short story anthologies, and a book of poetry criticism, he is a two-time winner of the Youth Literary Awards and five-time winner of the Hong Kong Biennial Awards for Chinese Literature, among other accolades. He has also been named Artist of the Year (Literary Arts) by the Hong Kong Arts Development Awards. In 2019, Chung was a featured poet at the International Poetry Nights in Hong Kong (IPNHK), one of the most influential international poetry event series in Asia. His work has been translated into English and Japanese. Award-winning translator and writer May Huang began translating Chung Kwok-keung’s poetry in 2018 and her translations have appeared in Exchanges, Circumference, The Common, World Literature Today, Los Angeles Review, and elsewhere. Huang was selected to participate in ALTA’s 2020 Emerging Translators Mentorship Program, and she received an Honorable Mention in the 2020 Gulf Coast Prize in Translation. In 2021, Huang was awarded a PEN/HEIM Translation Fund Grant to translate Taiwanese author Chiou Charng-Ting’s short story collection “Young Gods” into English. Her writings on translation have appeared in Words Without Borders, Electric Literature, Hopscotch Translation, Hong Kong Review of Books, and Cha: An Asian Literary Journal.