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.

Mani Rao (b.1965 India) is author of seven poetry books, has been published in journals including Tinfish, Wasafiri, Meanjin, Washington Square, Fulcrum and WestCoastLine, in over a dozen anthologies including Zoland Poetry, Language For A New Century (WW Norton USA), and Sixty Indian Poets (Penguin India). She has performed at literary festivals in Melbourne, Vancouver, Hong Kong, Singapore, Chicago and at the 2006 PEN World Voices in New York. Translations of her poems have been published in Latin, Italian, Korean, Chinese, Arabic, French and German. She was Visiting Fellow at the Iowa International Writing program in 2005, and won the 2006 University of Iowa International Programs writer-in-residence fellowship. In Hong Kong, she was cofounder of OutLoud and contributed a poetry segment to RTHK. Mani worked in advertising and television businesses from 1985 to 2004. She lives in Las Vegas.

Louise's passion for travel and adventure brought her to Asia and an interest in anthropology, society and culture inspires her writing. After working as an English teacher she now edits and contributes to several Hong Kong-based luxury publications and Haven Books' collection of literature.

Canadian poet and educator Kate Rogers has had poetry, essays and reviews published in anthologies and literary magazines in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Canada and the UK. She has been short-listed twice for the Winston Collins Best Canadian Poem Prize by Toronto literary journal Descant: in 2009 and 2008. Publications include Fifty-Fifty: New Hong Kong Writing, The Asia Literary Review, Dimsum, Pressed, The New Quarterly, Contemporary Verse II, Canadian Women's Studies, The Mad Woman in the Academy and Orbis International. She has traveled extensively in Asia and in Southern Africa. A bilingual collection of her essays about Taiwan, The Swallows' Return, was published in 2006. Her first collection of poetry, Painting the Borrowed House, debuted in Hong Kong in 2008. Kate Rogers teaches English and writing for City University Community College.

Andreas Rosboch was born and raised in Sweden by an Italian father and a Swedish mother. Having studied economics and business, his career focused on information technology, covering all aspects of the field from tech support to brand management. Andreas now lives in Hong Kong with his wife, two children and dog. He spends his free time with his family, builds and tinkers with computers, reads, and walks the local trails.

Louise Rosengreen was born in 1983 in Copenhagen, Denmark. She has published a volume of poetry in Danish. Her works have appeared in several Danish literary magazines, and in the English anthology auto reverse: young narrative, edited by Edgar Keret. She has a B.A. in History and Danish Literature. At the moment she is studying at a writers' school in Lund, Sweden.

Cairo businessman Hatem Rushdy interrupted his normal life on January 25, 2011 to join the mass protests to oust President Hosni Mubarak. Rushdy runs People Plus, an executive search firm in Cairo. Born in Egypt in 1968, he grew up in Kuwait before returning to study at the American University in Cairo. He holds an MSc from the University of Manchester in the UK. He was previously a headhunter at KPMG Egypt, and Vodaphone's youngest director. As well as 18 DAYS IN TAHRIR, he has written children's stories and extensive articles on business and tourism. Rushdy lives with his wife and three children, and is currently preparing to run in Egypt's upcoming parliamentary elections.

Linda Leedy Schneider is an award-winning internationally published poet and writer, individual poetry and writing mentor, psychotherapist in private practice, and college writing instructor. She facilitates writing groups at Gilda’s Club for people living with cancer. A writer since able to hold a pencil, Linda's volunteer work in orphanages in Albania motivated her to submit her poems and prose for publication. Her work has since been published in hundreds of  literary magazines including Rattle Magazine, The Spoon River Poetry Review, Pudding Magazine, Driftwood Review, Midwest Poetry Review, Miranda Literary Magazine, ONTHEBUS, and The Pedestal Magazine. Linda has written five collections of poetry including” Through the Lattice: Poetry of a Psychotherapist”, Argonne House Press, 2002, and “Through My Window: Poetry of a Psychotherapist,” Pudding House Publications, 2007. She has recently been featured poet at The Back Fence, NYC, Peter Chelnik's Prairie Fire Series, NYC and The Saturn Poetry Reading Series, NYC.  Most  the writers Linda has mentored have been published as well. She is currently editing an anthology of her student's poetry for Finishing Line Press. Linda believes that a regular writing ritual leads to discovery, authenticity, personal growth, and even Joy. She can be reached at loschneide@AOL.com.

Karmel Schreyer is a former English teacher and the author of more than 20 books, ranging from children's (Empress Emi-poo, Peek-a-boo Street) and young-adult fiction (Naomi: The Strawberry Blonde of Pippu Town, An Ordinary Courage: Naomi in Indonesia) to information/novelty (Hong Kong Surprise) and critically-acclaimed history/memoir (By the Banks of the Brokenhead). Karmel contributes to magazines and newspapers, and writes primary-level educational materials for markets in Canada and Asia. Crunchy Cockroach: Phonics Poems for Hong Kong Kids, is her book of phonics poetry popular in Hong Kong schools.

Considered one of Hong Kong's most beautiful and best-dressed women, Claudia Shaw is of mixed Chinese and Austrian parentage, but is Hong Kong-born and bred. She belongs to the movie dynasty which started the Shaw Studios in 1930. A graduate of Bryn Mawr College, she has worked extensively in the fashion and luxury goods industry; at present she is the fashion buyer and style ambassador for Chanel. Hailed for her impeccable sense of style, Claudia's refined and simple approach to fashion is also reflected in the way she cooks and entertains: with minimum fuss but maximum flavour. The entire Shaw-d'Auriol family share a love of food, travel, sport and the sea.

Email: publisher@havenbooksonline.com

Publisher Dania Shawwa Abuali started her career in book publishing in New York City, where she edited museum publications for the Pierpont Morgan Library and pop-culture books for Universe, an imprint of Rizzoli Publishing. She came to Hong Kong during the handover in 1997 and then worked as an equity-research editor for major investment banks, primarily Credit Suisse. She was the managing editor of Imprint, an annual anthology of women’s writing, and president of the Women in Publishing Society (www.hkwips.org). After forming Haven Books, Dania helped establish the Independent Publishers of Hong Kong, a fast expanding industry group. She holds a degree in commerce from the University of Toronto and a master’s in English literature from Northwestern University, Chicago.

Khaled Shokry is a landscape designer, horticulturalist and self taught photographer.  He graduated from Universite Paris IX Dauphine with an M.B.A.   In subsequent years he worked in Europe and Egypt in various sectors, including:  food and beverage, construction and engineering, and design and architecture.  In 1998 he founded the “Palm Gardens”, a multi disciplinary firm that covers residential and corporate projects from concept design to turn key service.   Khaled is a keen traveler, passionate cook and nature lover.   He spends his time mainly between Cairo, his farm “Botanica” just outside the city, and the Far East. 

A teacher of English by profession, Judith Simanovszky lives and works in a small town in western Hungary. She enjoys writing stories in English and has a collection of her stories of childhood reminiscences published by Pen Press under the title Friendly Stories from Afar. She draws much of her inspiration from her travels and together with her husband she runs a small publishing house focusing mainly on college textbooks on economics.

Madeleine has authored several books of poetry and non-fiction, and has exhibited her photographs internationally. Round - Poems and Photographs of Asia received the Bumbershoot Book Award in Seattle. My Favourite Thing was a bestseller in Beijing. Delicate Access was accompanied by a photography exhbition in Tokyo, Singapore and Hong Kong. Her most recent titles are Something Beautiful Might Happen (Tokyo, 2010) and China Voices (Oxfam Hong Kong, 2010). She lives in New Zealand.

Visit Madeleine's blog HERE

Ahdaf Soueif is the author of the bestselling The Map of Love which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for Fiction in 1999. Ms Soueif is also a political and cultural commentator. A collection of her essays, Mezzaterra: Fragments from the Common Ground, was published in 2004. Her translation (from Arabic into English) of Mourid Barghouti's I Saw Ramallah also came out in 2004. She lives with her children in London and Cairo.

As a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, Susan works with those who create children's literature. She has authored educational materials for Oxford University Press (China) including English First!, The Oxford Story Tree and The Reading Rainbow. She also created Jumping Jive for the Hong Kong English Festival and most recently another rhyme book, Hong Kong ABCs.

Sridala Swami's poetry has appeared in Nthposition, Kritya, Museindia, Chandrabhaga, The Little Magazine, New Quest, Wasafiri and Asian Cha; and in the Talking Poetry anthology 50 Poets 50 Poems, edited by Priya Sarukkai-Chhabria. Her work will appear in the Creative Writing Issue of The South Asian Review (28:3, 2007) and in The Bloodaxe Book of Contemporary Indian Poets, edited by Jeet Thayil (Bloodaxe). Three books for very young children, Phani's Funny Chappals, The Flyaway Cradle and Kabadiwala will be published by Pratham later this year. Her first collection of poems, A Reluctant Survivor, was published by
The Sahitya Akademi in June 2007. Swami blogs at The Spaniard in the Works.

Marianne Taylor is the recipient of the Allen Ginsberg Award and the Helen A. Quade Memorial Writer's Award. She was a finalist for the John Ciardi Prize for Poetry, the Richard Snyder Memorial Poetry Prize, and the Winnow Press Open Book Award. Her work has been published widely in national journals such as North American Review, Connecticut Review, Nimrod International Journal and many others. She lives in the small town of Mount Vernon, Iowa, with her husband and four sons, and she teaches creative writing and literature at Kirkwood Community College.

Adrian Tilley has been an English teacher for many years, working as a Head of English in the UK and similarly in an international school in Hong Kong. He worked to promote the development of Media Education in the UK, as a teacher, activist and Advisory Teacher and eventually as a Principal Examiner for the largest exam group. Although he no longer teaches, his work includes creative writing and drama projects in schools, and professional development work for teachers. He is a visiting lecturer in Literature at the University of Hong Kong. Other interests include playing guitar, bass and drums for various rock bands in UK and Hong Kong and singing jazz. He has worked professionally as an artist and illustrator. By way of balance, he is a keen golfer and has coaching qualifications in golf and football. Currently, Adrian lives in 500-year-old barn in Devon, UK. Currently working on a second novel, The Damaged, and a third novel, Golden Eye.

Phoebe Tsang was born in Hong Kong, grew up in England and currently resides in Canada. She is the author of the poetry collection Contents of a Mermaid's Purse (Tightrope Books, Canada). Phoebe's poetry has been published in journals and anthologies in Canada, UK, Hong Kong and India. Her chapbooks are Solitaires (Lyricalmyrical Press, 2006) and To Kiss the Ground (Press On! 2007). A professional violinist, she is a multi-genre artist who holds a BSc in Architecture from the University of London. http://www.phoebetsang.com

Ronnie Tsui Min Ming entered The University of Hong Kong as a music specialist in 2002. Unexpectedly, she became a creative writer instead of a composer. All wonderful experiences, Ronnie believes, come from God; God is Love; Love leads to creation; creations lead to words; and words lead to feeling. Her short story, My Tin, is her experiment in fun. She would like to dedicate the story to her family and friends, with special attention to her beloved, Yuen (a.k.a. Maru), who is her real-life Tin.