HAL Publishing

by Leila Al-Qattan
on Friday, December 09, 2011

Everyone who comes out to Shanghai has a story, or two, to tell.  In a city saturated with adventure and inspiration, it’s hard not to.  But finding an outlet to express these tales of Shanghai lore, debauchery, or even everyday life isn’t always easy. 

This is where Shanghai-based indie publishing house HAL comes in, giving writers a chance to tell their Shanghai stories, no matter how explicit and untraditional.  And HAL goes a step further than just publishing these witty and inventive tales in books and online; they also host a number of events around Shanghai - from writers’ workshops to poetry slams - where people (mainly expats) can congregate to talk, listen, (let’s not forget drink), read, and write about their lives out here, and pretty much anything else that inspires them.

Their motto - “ink on paper and mayhem on stage”- describes what HAL is all about.  Their poetry slams - aptly named SLAMHAI! - are hilarious, raunchy and inspiring, a combination that is seemingly difficult, yet wonderfully mastered by HAL’s writers and editors.

Dena Rash Guzman, HAL’s managing director for North America and an avid writer, describes the publishing house as a “guerrilla underground writing group”, fostering openness for writers in Shanghai and allowing readers around the world to gain a better understanding of what life out here is like.   Since joining the HAL team, Guzman has been working towards promoting their literature around the United States. “There are so many misconceptions and so much confusion, and people do not understand what I do [in Shanghai]…they don’t understand.”  The stories that HAL publishes certainly brings physically removed readers one step closer to that understanding. 

In a country marked by media censorship, it’s an encouraging breath of fresh air to find a group of people like those at HAL.  “There’s just nothing like HAL”, says Guzman, “I love that they’re able to foster so much creativity and creative growth… art and creativity are such a different animal in a country like this. ”  

As for the future of HAL, besides the usual (rather, unusual) events and writers’ meetings, Guzman says, “I have absolute faith that we are going do something with this, and I really, really want to. I’m working very hard to push our presence into North America because there’s so much to learn about China.  There’s so much.  I just want to tell them, ‘Look at what [HAL] is doing because it’s beautiful and amazing’”. 

Keep an eye out for HAL’s most recent book of short stories, Middle Kingdom Underground: short stories from the People’s Republic of out soon.