Here’s my TEDx talk!

So sadly, summer’s over, and I’ve started working on Novel No. 2, which will keep me occupied for much of the autumn.  But first, here’s the video of my TEDx London talk, which was a rousing finish to my book tour for Dark Chapter earlier this summer.  I got a standing ovation!

In other news, the German edition of Dark Chapter recently came out — it’s been retitled Nein and given a fantastic new cover.  Media coverage has been great.  Here’s a full-page review in the Neue Zuercher Zeitung (Switzerland’s most prestigious newspaper, I’ve been told), and an interview with me in Jetzt, the youth-oriented magazine that is part of the Sueddeutsche Zeitung. That makes eight editions of Dark Chapter so far (the Icelandic version is missing from the photo below):

A growing collection of foreign editions...

A growing collection of foreign editions…

I recently had the honour of being a judge for the SI Leeds Literary Prize 2018, for which I won 2nd prize in 2016, for the unpublished manuscript of Dark Chapter.  This time, I got to read the unpublished manuscripts of some very promising women of colour writers in the UK.  Many of them will be excellent books one day, and it was truly a pleasure to work with my fellow judges Susheila Nasta, Kadija George, and Sharmaine Lovegrove. Here’s to more diversity in the arts, and all the talent that’s out there!

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I have a few events coming up this autumn, in London, Scotland, and Ireland — notably I’m a speaker at the Safe World Summit 2018 in Dublin. And there is very exciting news coming in the next few weeks, so stay tuned!

My 13-month book tour is coming to a close with TEDx London!

So I’m writing this on the eve of my 13-month, seemingly never-ending book tour for Dark Chapter FINALLY coming to a close.  If you told me a year ago, that I’d still be at public events talking about my first novel on July 1st, 2018… well, I’m not sure I’d have believed you. But some 80 or so public talks later, I think I’m finally at the end.

Quite fittingly, I’ll be finishing with TEDx London at the SouthBank Centre, where I’ll be speaking in the 4-6pm section on social justice.  This is live in front of an audience of 2,000 with no notes or teleprompter… so it’s a bit terrifying and definitely a step up from any of my previous talks!  But at least a way to finish in style. You’ll be able to watch the live-stream on the TEDx London social media channels, like Facebook Live.

Winnie M Li_Graphics Cards_Twitter-03Since my Korean promotional tour, I’ve been back to the US twice: for the Edgar Awards and the Bay Area Book Festival in April, and more recently for a three-city US book tour in Chicago, Washington, DC, and New York/New Jersey.   At the Edgars, I had the pleasure of meeting fellow crime writers in the Mystery Writers of America, including MWA President Jeffery Deaver, who now has his own signed copy of Dark Chapter.   IMG_4429IMG_4469   
Sadly, I didn’t win in the Best First Novel Award category, but it was certainly an honour to be nominated. Literally hours after the awards dinner ended, I caught an early morning flight to San Francisco, where I was in Berkeley for the glorious Bay Area Book Festival.  I had the pleasure of speaking there at three different events, and meeting lots of amazing authors.

You know who else now has her own signed copy of Dark Chapter? JOYCE CAROL OATES.  Yes, that’s right. I did the fan-girl thing and handed her a copy after her talk.  And she TWEETED ABOUT MY BOOK FOUR DAYS LATER.  So yes, that kind of made my year.

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In June, I started another US round of my book tour at the Printers Row Lit Fest in Chicago, the Midwest’s biggest literary festival. This time I was in conversation with NYT- bestselling author Michelle Knight, one of the survivors of the Cleveland kidnapper. We had a powerful discussion about overcoming trauma and abuse.

Dark Chapter June 2018 events

My US book tour was a lovely (albeit busy) time to reconnect with friends from different parts of my life, some of whom I haven’t seen in decades. One of the most powerful events for me was in the private home of Mary Lou Hartman, who is the inspiration for the character ‘Barbara’ in Dark Chapter. In real life, she was the person I called minutes after my rape, and to be in conversation with her years later was truly humbling.

I also returned to New Jersey (the state I grew up in).  This interview with me ran on the front page of The Wayne Today (my hometown paper) and in the digital edition of The Record, which I used to write a few articles for in high school. The past few months also saw interviews with me in The LA Review of Books, The Chicago Tribune, Ms. magazine, CrimeReads. And this personal essay of mine ran in Goop.  IMG_5247IMG_5348

Back in the UK, I was shortlisted for The Author’s Club Best First Novel Award. Again, I didn’t win, but guest adjudicator A.L. Kennedy called Dark Chapter: ‘extraordinarily courageous… A remarkable book to read in this time.’ On TV, I appeared on Sky News and London Live, and wrote this piece for The Belfast Telegraph on the 10th anniversary of my rape.   

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While the past 13 months have been beyond anything I could have predicted, I am REALLY looking forward to a break from all this promoting. On July 2nd, I start writing Novel No. 2. I’m also one of the judges for the SI Leeds Literary Prize this year.  So this summer, I’ll be doing a lot of reading and writing. Which sounds just about right, for a writer! 

Edgar nomination, Korean book tour & LOTS of public speaking

So I really need to be updating this site more often, but if I thought last year was busy… the first quarter of 2018 sent me to Los Angeles (twice), San Francisco, Berlin, Cork, Seoul, and of course my home base of London.  It’s been great to have the chance to talk about Dark Chapter, #MeToo and sexual violence in so many different places. I’ve just returned from an amazing (and intense) promotional tour in Seoul, where the Korean edition of Dark Chapter just launched. And next week, I’m headed to New York, where the US paperback edition will be published on April 17th.

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The big news is that Dark Chapter has been nominated for the Edgar Awards for Best First Novel.  These are the most prestigious mystery & crime writing awards in the US, and have been won in the past by Stephen King, Dennis Lehane, Gillian Flynn, Viet Thanh Nguyen, etc. So I completely wasn’t expecting this – in fact, I woke up one morning in January, and my Twitter timeline had exploded. Before the Edgar Awards Ceremony in New York, I’ll be participating at the Edgar Week Symposium featuring some of the country’s top crime writers — AND there will be a launch of the US paperback at the Mysterious Bookshop in Tribeca, on Saturday, April 21st. Feel free to come by!  (After that, I’m at the Bay Area Book Festival April 28-29, so looking forward to being in San Francisco again.)

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In the UK, Dark Chapter has also been long-listed for The Author’s Club Best First Novel Award, and I was particularly busy with public talks around International Women’s Day, speaking at the WoW Festival at the SouthBank Centre, the House of Lords in Parliament, and meeting HRH Camilla the Duchess of Cornwall among other activities. I also returned to Cork, Ireland where I studied as a Mitchell Scholar at UCC in 2000-2001 for an MA in English (Gender & Sexuality in Irish Writing).  To give a talk with my former professors in the Dept of English there was very much like coming full circle!  Here’s a feature The Irish Examiner ran on me, following my visit.

With Cliona O Gallchoir, Piaras Mac Einri & Pat Coughlan, my former profs from UCC!

With Cliona O Gallchoir, Piaras Mac Einri & Pat Coughlan, my former profs from UCC!

Of all places I never expected to go, I was flown out to South Korea, which has been rocked recently by a wave of #MeToo allegations. My Korean publishers pulled out all the stops, launching Dark Chapter there with a full press conference, coverage in all major newspapers, and multiple TV interviews. (Try doing this all while jetlagged, with a translator!) I also gave a talk at Ewha Women’s University and a Sebasi lecture (the Korean version of TED).  You can watch my Sebasi lecture (in English) below:

Along the way, I got to meet some of Korea’s leading feminist scholars, fellow survivors and advocates.  It was a truly eye-opening experience for me — and all due to my incredible publishers at Hangilsa. (The only other foreign literary writers they publish are Karl Ove Knausgard, Elena Ferrante, and Rachel Cusk.  Nice to be in that select circle!)

My Korean translator Byeol is herself a survivor & advocate, which means a lot to me

My Korean translator Byeol is herself a survivor & advocate, which means a lot to me

I mentioned Los Angeles, where I attended a pre-Oscar party for the Oscars Wilde Awards, run annually by the US-Ireland Alliance and hosted by… JJ Abrams at the Bad Robot headquarters. At one point in the party I turned around and saw JJ Abrams speaking to Ava DuVernay and I promptly freaked out. I’ve also been speaking to various film companies and producers about screen adaptation rights to Dark Chapter… if you’re interested in those, contact my agents at Pontas!

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Needless to say, while this is all exciting, it’s also exhausting.  I luckily squeezed in a weeklong vacation on Jeju Island in Korea, and later Coron in the Philippines.  I’m leaving with this photo of me at Kayangan Lake, where I wish I still was… yes, the water really is that color!

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Happy New Year! Not The Booker Prize, US Book Tour & more

Happy New Year, everyone!  I’m glad we’re in 2018 now, because 2017 was a serious endurance test for me, both exhilarating and exhausting… Since I last posted here:

  1. Dark Chapter won The Not The Booker Prize
  2. The UK paperback came out and became an Amazon bestseller
  3. The Weinstein scandal broke and #MeToo & sexual assault dominated headlines
  4. I was nominated for Irish Tatler’s Women of the Year Awards 
  5. We had the 2nd edition of the Clear Lines Festival, of which I was Artistic Director

Screen Shot 2018-01-05 at 00.22.30So first of all, thank you so much, those who voted for my novel in Not The Booker.  I honestly wasn’t expecting a novel about rape to win, but I think recent news stories indicate how much the issue resonates with many people.  #MeToo also made me reflect on my own experiences in the film industry, so I wrote this opinion piece for The Guardian, another one for The Scotsman, and this one for journal.ie

Because all I ever wanted in life was to have my photo printed right next to Harvey Weinstein's in a newspaper spread...

Because all I ever wanted in life was to have my photo printed right next to Harvey Weinstein’s in a newspaper spread…

I also had the pleasure of discussing #DarkChapter and the #MeToo movement on BBC Woman’s Hour with Jane Garvey and fellow novelist Anne Cassidy. Here’s me in the green room!IMG_2252

After Not The Booker, there was a 5-way auction for translation rights to my novel in Taiwan, where my parents come from.  It’ll be coming out in November 2018 with Delight Press, who also publish bestseller Celeste Ng.  Needless to say, my extended family are very happy about this one. It was also an honour to be nominated in a Special Recognition category for Irish Tatler’s Women of the Year Awards, which I attended in Dublin the day after my birthday.IMG_2180

In November, I spoke at Goldsmiths on the Creative Writing Programme MA course, the day the paperback edition of Dark Chapter was published. It was particularly memorable to be in conversation with my former tutor Ardashir Vakil, talking about a novel I had started writing while on that very course four years ago!  Later in November, I also got to discuss Dark Chapter as a guest speaker at the annual NAWE Conference in York; at a unique evening with fellow rape survivor Madeleine Black at Waterstones in Glasgow; and in a lunchtime discussion for the Survivors’ Network conference in Brighton.

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Needless to say, I was very busy this year for 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence!  This video series with The Independent launched — I’d helped shape the concept for the series through The Angles Project.

And then, in December, we had the 2nd edition of Clear Lines!   This year, it took place in the Rich Mix arts venue, and highlights included a Comedy Night with Sara Pascoe, Bisha K. Ali, Alice Fraser, and my dear friend Tiff Stevenson; some sterling theatre performances; and panels dedicated to the experiences of BAME (ethnic minority), disabled, and LGBTQ survivorhood. Our Film Night featured three documentary films about survivors from the UK, Norway, and Ireland, with the international filmmakers flying in to discuss their work.  There is lots of discussion about bringing Clear Lines to other locations, and already a team is in place to make Clear Lines USA happen!

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As for 2018 and me, my US book tour kicks off this week with an event in Los Angeles on Sat, Jan 6 and another one in San Francisco on Tue, Jan 16. Click here for my upcoming events schedule — and in the meantime, ah yes, I’ve started my next novel… Happy New Year!

An Irish documentary, a South African literary festival, and the final stages of the Not The Booker Prize!

Hello – I’m writing this on a train up to Yorkshire, after a few weeks in South Africa.  Lots to update you on, but in brief, I have a busy week of events coming up, starting with tonight’s launch of the 2018 SI Leeds Literary Prize at the Ilkley Literature Festival. It will be great to return to Ilkley — last time I was here, as one of the 2016 prize winners, I was deep in the edit of Dark Chapter and one year on, it’s amazing to present it as a tangible book! 

Tomorrow, I’m back in London for a panel with the other short-listed writers in The Guardian’s Not The Booker Prize, chaired by Sam Jordison, the prize founder and a Guardian book critic.  The panel takes place 7-9pm at the Big Green Bookshop.  Looking forward to meeting the other shortlisted writers, as well as Sam, who called Dark Chapter ‘an impressive debut… defiant and urgent… conveyed with skill and emotional force’ in this great review.  In fact, we’re in the final stage of the Not The Booker Prize — so if you liked the book, please consider voting for it  before midnight, GMT, Sunday, Oct 15th.  All you have to do is vote in the comments section of this article, providing a brief review of the book.  Many thanks to all who have supported the book thus far in getting to the shortlist! 

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You’ll see my October events list above, which also includes speaking on panels about feminism, change, and online spaces at WoW Exeter; about recovery after rape at FiLiA (formerly the Feminism in London conference); and about sexual harassment in institutions at the London School of Economics. On Monday, Oct 16 from 5-6pm, I’ll also be part of a BBC World Service radio programme for BBC 100 Women, broadcast live from the London Transport Museum about sexual harassment on public transport. 

I'm one of the four women in this TV3 Ireland documentary...

I’m one of the four women in this TV3 Ireland documentary…

I’m also headed to Dublin in late October, where I’ll be at the awards ceremony for Irish Tatler’s Women of the Year Awards.  I’m nominated in the Special Recognition category, and it has been an honour to be part of a larger, much-needed conversation in Ireland about sexual assault.  In September, TV3 Ireland aired ‘Unbreakable: True Lives,’ a two-part television documentary featuring four Irish stories of sexual assault and rape. I was one of those four survivors, and the documentary follows my return to Belfast to revisit the park where I was violently raped by a stranger in 2008. When we filmed last autumn, the thought of returning to that park (which features heavily in my novel) filled me with great deal of trepidation and anxiety. But the actual return was not as awful as I expected — and the huge public reception generated by the documentary this autumn has made everything worth it.  The social media reaction has been incredible, connecting a great number of survivors, and we even elicited a statement from George Hook, the Irish journalist who recently came under fire for his questionable comments about rape victims. For those in Ireland, you can still watch the show on TV3 player until Oct 26. My story is in Part 2, which aired on Sep 28th.         

Screen Shot 2017-09-22 at 01.29.40While the documentary was airing in Ireland, I was actually in South Africa, where I’d been invited to speak at the Articulate Africa Book Fair, part of the Essence Festival Durban.  It was my first time in Durban, and I’ve always been keen to connect with readers in South Africa, which the media rather salaciously calls ‘the rape capital of the world.’  Needless to say, a great number of survivors and activists are eager to change the situation around sexual violence in South Africa —I hope my talk resonated with many. It was also great to meet with eminent writers like Chris Abani and Christopher Merrill from the US, and South African authors like bestselling crime writer Deon Meyer, debut phenomenon Mohale Mashigo, literary critic Karina Szczurek, and the renowned Etienne van Heerden (whose novel Ancestral Voices, I’d first heard about as a 14-year-old in New Jersey).

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After the book fair, I took the opportunity to travel around South Africa for a week. I got to traverse the Sani Pass and stay at the highest pub in Africa (in Lesotho), explore the Drakensberg Mountains, hike in the Golden Gate Highlands, sample the art and dining scene in Clarens, and meet three of the Big 5 game animals on safari in Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park. Nothing quite like turning a corner and finding an elephant right there next to the road!  I hope to return to South Africa soon (especially if my book finds a distributor there), and it’s great to see readers of Dark Chapter already enjoying it down there.

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Finally, my novel came out in the US and Holland in September, with Polis Books and Harper Collins respectively. I wrote this piece for LitHub, on how my background in film influences me as a writer (with a special nod to the car chase scene from The Bourne Supremacy).  Already, Dark Chapter has been included among the top 2017 debut novels by Library Journal and top autumn thrillers by Book Riot. In the UK, Dark Chapter continues to generate buzz, both in the media, with those working on the issue of sexual violence, with book bloggers, such as Books Beyond Borders, Book Muse, and From First Page to Last.

The paperback will be out on November 1st, and already I have an exciting line-up of events in London and elsewhere around the UK.  Looking forward to meeting more readers and seeing how far the book can go in reaching both individuals and organisations on the issue of sexual violence.  If you read the book and think it’s a worthy read, spread the word!  And don’t forget to vote for Not The Booker!