Haven Books is an English-language press that aims to put a wide range of interesting books into readers' hands. Our titles focus primarily on Hong Kong and Asian themes.

Luisa A. Igloria (previously published as Maria Luisa Aguilar-Cariño) is a tenured Associate Professor in the MFA Creative Writing Program and Department of English, Old Dominion University. Her work has appeared or will be forthcoming in numerous anthologies and journals including Poetry, Crab Orchard Review, The Missouri Review, Indiana Review, Poetry East, Smartish Pace, Rattle, The North American Review, Bellingham Review, Shearsman (UK), PRISM International (Canada), The Asian Pacific American Journal, and TriQuarterly. She has won 18 national and international literary nominations, awards and fellowoships, including the 2009 Ernest Sandeen Poetry Prize, the 2007 49th Parallel Poetry Prize; the 2006 National Writers Union Poetry Prize (selected by Adrienne Rich); the 2006 Richard Peterson Poetry Prize (Crab Orchard Review); the 2006 Stephen Dunn Award for Poetry; Finalist, the 2005 George Bogin Memorial Award for Poetry (Poetry Society of America, selected by Joy Harjo); the 2004 Fugue Poetry Prize (selected by Ellen Bryant Voigt); and many others. Originally from Baguio City in the Philippines, Luisa is also an eleven-time recipient of the Carlos Palanca Memorial Award for Literature, the Philippines’ equivalent to the Pulitzer Prize. She has previously published nine books including Encanto (Anvil, 2004), In the Garden of the Three Islands (Moyer Bell/Asphodel, 1995), and most recently Trill & Mordent (WordTech Editions, 2005). (www.luisaigloria.com)

Andréa Jarmai is a Toronto poet. Her poems have appeared in magazines, journals and anthologies in Canada, England, Ireland, Japan and the United States. Following the publication of four chapbooks, her first major collection of poems, Brother to Dragons, Companion to Owls, was published by Seraphim Editions, in 2004. A fifth chapbook, Fools, is due for publication with LyricalMyrical Press. In 2005 and 2006, Andréa read and gave talks at the invitation of the Stretnutia Poetry Festival in Levoca and Bratislava, Slovakia. On October 2006, her translation of George Faludy's poem "Michelangelo's Last Prayer" (chosen by Faludy) was unveiled on a bronze plaque at the dedication of George Faludy Place, in Toronto, as part of the permanent memorial to Faludy. It also appears, as of November 2007, as part of the Poetry On the Way program in public transit systems across Canada. Andréa has worked as a falconer rehabilitating injured birds of prey with a view to returning them to the wild, and teaches ESL to newcomers to Canada. She is currently finishing the manuscript for a second major collection of poems, with the working title In the House of Pomegranates.

Tara Jenkins has been writing in some shape or form since she left Durham University in the early 90s, clutching an English Literature degree.  She moved to Hong Kong from London with her lawyer husband nine years ago, gladly leaving behind the corporate PR world, and embraced writing full-time.  She now has three wild children, seven years worth of freelance newspaper and magazine clippings, and a couple of books under her belt.

Kavita, whose name means 'poem', was born in India and has lived in both Hong Kong and England for several years. She currently lives in London. Her work is fuelled by observations made in three distinct landscapes and societies. Her poetry collection, Raincheck Renewed, was published by Chameleon Press in 2004 to critical acclaim. Kavita's poems, short stories, essays and articles on the Arts have been published in various newspapers, literary journals, and anthologies, including The Independent, The South China Morning Post, Dimsum, The Mechanics Institute Review, Asian Cha and In Our Own Words. Kavita worked in
corporate public relations for a range of multi-nationals and in marketing for Arts organisations before deciding to be both a full-time writer and a full-time mother. Kavita has a B.A. Honours degree in English from Panjab University, Chandigarh and an M.A. in Creative Writing from Birkbeck College, University of London. (www.kavitajindal.com)

Vivien Jones lives on the north Solway shore, dividing her time between writing prose, drama and poetry and devising reading events, often with music. She has published two chapbooks, Something in the Blood (Selkirk Lapwing Press) and Hare (Erbacce Press), She was short-listed for the Scotsman Orange Short Story Award 2005; published a story in New Writing Scotland 23; was the winner of the Sedbergh Short Story Award 2007; and is currently in the final 25/400 for the Happenstance Short Story Award 2008. She was featured on BBC Radio 4 in 2006.

Erica Jong—novelist, poet, and essayist—has consistently used her craft to help provide women with a powerful and rational voice in forging a feminist consciousness. She has published 20 books, including eight novels, six volumes of poetry, and numerous articles in mainline magazines and newspapers such as the New York Times and the Sunday Times of London. In her first novel, Fear of Flying, she introduced the world to Isadora Wing, who also plays a central part in three subsequent novels—How to Save Your Own Life, Parachutes and Kisses, and Any Woman's Blues. In her three historical novels—Fanny, Shylock's Daughter, and Sappho's Leap—she demonstrates her mastery of 18th-century British literature, the verses of Shakespeare, and ancient Greek lyric, respectively. She has received the Bess Hokin Prize for Poetry, the United Nations Award for Excellence in Literature, and the Victoria Woodhull Award for Ethical Leadership. Erica's latest book, a memoir—Seducing the Demon—came out in March 2006.

Kathleen Kenny works as a creative writing tutor at the Centre for Lifelong Learning, Sunderland University. She has four published poetry collections, the most recent being Firesprung (Red Squirrel Press, 2008).

Sandra Keys was born in 1964 and handed over for adoption six weeks later. She grew up in the North of England before moving to Edinburgh University, graduating with an MA in French literature. She then moved to live and work in and around London. Sandra married Michael Keys in 1993, and gave birth to a, Diana, in 1999. That year, the family moved to Hong Kong and Michael was diagnosed with a rare form of heart cancer, cardiac leiomyosarcoma. Michael lived for eight years rather than the initially predicted six months, resulting in him being one of the, if not the, world’s longest living survivors of this disease. Sandra has successfully established a 20-year career in management and human resources development, the past ten of which in the Asia-Pacific region. Sandra lives in Hong Kong with her daughter.

Ilyas first visited Hong Kong in 1984. Frequent visits in the next few years led eventually to being based here permanently in 1989, and for the last 16 years Hong Kong has been home. Ilyas works for a regional merchant bank.

Ilyas has written articles for a variety of newspapers and magazines, and also had a regular column in Asiaweek until that magazine closed down in 2003. In 2001, his non-fiction book, Underdogs in Overdrive, was published by Wiley and a small number of his short stories have been published in regional papers in England. Ilyas, 43, is married to Mara Hotung and they have a young son, Elijah Adam.

Jane's background includes Masters Degrees in Anglo-Irish Literature (University College, Dublin) and Counseling Psychology (Lewis & Clark College). She has worked as a psychotherapist for over seven years in community mental-health centers; currently, she is at home raising two young sons. Since 2000, she's been studying poetry writing with local and nationally recognized teachers, including C.K. Williams, Jack Gilbert, Hugh Seidman and Nick Flynn. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Sunday Oregonian, The Tar Wolf Review, Reed: A Journal of Poetry & Prose, The Tusculum Review, Compass Rose, The Georgia State University Review, Harpur Palate, The Mom Egg, A Cappella Zoo and the Canadian anthology White Ink: Poems on Mothers and Motherhood. In
2006, she was awarded the Parnell Prize in Poetry.

Lindsay Knisely lives with her true love by the sea in Santa Cruz, CA. She is a writer and teacher at UC Santa Cruz. Lindsay grew up in Washington, DC and Virginia and has also lived in Ohio, Oregon, and Oakland, CA.

A self-taught illustrator of children's books and magazines, Adeline has used her love for visual detail to forge a career illustrating children's titles for publishing companies in Hong Kong. Currently studying for a masters degree in Chinese children's literature she enjoys using her passion to create funny and interesting books for children.

Teresa Joy Kramer's poetry has appeared in journals and anthologies such as Cicada, Open 24 Hours, Re)verb, Women Made Gallery's Her Mark, and Gival Press's Poetic Voices Without Borders. A former journalist, she received her MFA from Southern Illinois University Carbondale and is now directing the writing center at Central Washington University.

Born in Boston, Alex Kuo spent most of WWII in China, followed by eight years in Hong Kong before returning to the US.  He has lived and worked most of his adult life in Idaho and Washington.  Since 1963 he has taught writing and cultural studies at several colleges and universities on both sides of the Pacific. Recipient of three National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, Alex Kuo has also been awarded the Lingnan American Studies fellowship in Hong Kong and a Senior Fulbright lectureship. In 2002, his acclaimed collection, Lipstick and Other Stories, received the American Book Award.

Agnes S. L. Lam teaches at the University of Hong Kong. She has published two collections of poetry, Woman to Woman and Other Poems (1997) and Water Wood Pure Splendour (2001). She was awarded the title of Honorary Fellow in Writing by the University of Iowa and received the Nosside International Poetry Prize (Special Mention) in 2008.

Barbara LaMorticella co-hosts Talking Earth, a poetry programme on KBOO radio. In 1997, her second collection of poems, Rain on Waterless Mountain, was a finalist for the Oregon Book Award. In 2000 she was the recipient of the first Oregon Literary Fellowship for Women Writers, and, in 2005, she was awarded the Stewart H. Holbrook Award by Literary Arts. She has edited or co-edited three anthologies of Portland poetry. She has given over two hundred poetry readings. Her work has appeared in many anthologies, including From Here We Speak, the poetry volume of the Oregon Literature Series. She has been twice nominated for a Pushcart Prize, won a Bumbershoot Big Book Award, and is a Poetry in Motion winner. She lives in the hills outside Portland, Oregon.

Winsome Lane, who was born in South Wales, came to Hong Kong after being thrown out of three countries in the Caribbean because of stories she wrote for Reuters. The governments of the newly independent countries did not like to read the truth about themselves in the foreign press. In Jamaica, she was arrested and kept for questioning for 24 hours and her life was threatened. She was thrown out of Bermuda in the seventies because of a story which was denied by the government, but which a year ago was revealed to be the truth after the Foreign and Commonwealth Office made public some previously secret files.

In Hong Kong, Winsome has had a more or less peaceful life, writing social and fashion columns, among other things, although there have been some contretemps, like the time she offended Clement Freud and was highlighted in Nigel Dempster's column in the Mail. At that time, the late actor Derek Nimmo described her publicly as "the most feared journalist east of Suez". After ten years as a feature writer and columnist with the South China Morning Post, and twelve more doing much the same things for the Hong Kong Standard, she is now freelancing and indulging her lifelong dream of writing fiction.

Haley Lasché has her MFA in Writing from Hamline University. Her poems and creative nonfiction have appeared in The Crab Creek Review, The Furnace Review, rock.paper.scissors and the What Light anthology. She has performed them at the Soap Factory, Magers and Quinn Bookstore, The Hexagon Bar, in friends' living rooms and on top of tables, among other venues. In addition to her writing, she is a college instructor, post-modern dancer and punk-rock fashion model.

Amy Lee was born and educated in Hong Kong. She studied Comparative Literature at HKU and the University of Warwick. She has taught professional writing and communication courses and creative writing. Her creative work has been published in various literary journals, and she is also working to incorporate creative practices into teaching at different levels. At present she is Assistant Professor in the Humanities Programme and the Department of English Language and Literature of Hong Kong Baptist University.

Claire Lee was born and grew up in Hong Kong, graduated from a local design school and studied art curatorship at the Hong Kong Arts School. Claire has always maintained a close attachment to graphic design, visual arts, poetry and the local art community. The first appearance of her art in a local gallery was a series of mannequin-head installations named "Devastated", inspired by war photography. "Muse", her first solo exhibition of images, was held in May 2008, showing her tree photographic paintings along with her English poems on a theme of "Tree as a muse in this city". Claire is also engaged in writing poems in Chinese and English. Three books of her Chinese poems, Dust, Behind the Door and Tree.Poem, were released in the last several years. For more than ten years Claire has worked as illustrator, designer, stylist and art curator. She is now in progress for her second solo art exhibition in 2009. (clairemeilin@yahoo.com.hk)

Cheryl Long lives in Quebec, Canada, and has been an illustrator for 15 years. Her projects have included board games, children's products and pharmaceutical illustration. In addition to drawing and painting, Cheryl also writes and has a collection of fables for girls and women entitled Twelve Moons and a Maiden, and a novel set in rural Quebec entitled Shine. She has a degree in Fine Arts from Concordia University in Montreal, where she was born. She has since moved closer to nature, and now Quebec's mountains, trees and rivers inspire her artwork and words. She loves walking in the woods, listening hard to the silence and jumping in newly melted river water each spring. "The forest was always a magical place for me," says Cheryl. "There is a sense of mystery, something powerful hidden in the whisper of trees and the rushing of streams." Cheryl lives with her husband, photographer/carpenter Gary Matthews, and sons Evan and Sam.

Christina Lovin is the author of What We Burned for Warmth and Little Fires. A Pushcart nominee, her writing has appeared in Harvard Summer Review, Triplopia, Diner, Hunger Mountain, Poet Lore, The Lyric, Missing Mountains: We went to the mountaintop but it wasn't there, Susan B & Me, and many other journals and anthologies. The Southern Women Writers' Conference awarded Lovin the 2007 Emerging Poet Award. Her poetry has been named finalist for the 2006, 2007, and 2008 Rita Dove Poetry Award and the 7th Juried Reading at the Poetry Center of Chicago. She has received the Judson Jerome Scholarship from Antioch Writers' Workshop, the Baron Wormser Scholarship for the Stone Coast Writers' Conference, and, most recently, was awarded the 2008 AWP WC&C Poetry Scholarship. Lovin has served as Writer-in-Residence at Devil's Tower National Monument and the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest in Central Oregon. She has been a resident fellow at Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Vermont Studio Center, and Footpaths House in the Azores. Her work has been generously supported on several occasions with grants from the Kentucky Foundation for Women and the Kentucky Arts Council, including the 2007 Al Smith Fellowship.

Erica Lyons moved to Hong Kong in 2002 from New York. She is the founder of Asian Jewish Life - a journal of spirit, society and culture. She is also a freelance journalist for numerous international and local publications, often writing about Jewish Asia.