This week, I was invited by the National Museum of Taiwan Literature to take part in an international poetry reading alongside Professor John McAuliffe and Dr. Evan Jones, visiting from the UK, and Tainan’s very own Tân Chèng-hiông 陳正雄.
As I’m not ordinarily a poet, I instead chose to read a short story about poetry, the art of editing, and the elusive search for the perfect poem. The story came from my book Sixty-Four Chance Pieces, which was the book that got me started learning Chinese, and the book that was therefore indirectly responsible — or directly, but circuitously responsible — for my eventual decision to move to Taiwan. So this felt like a fitting book to read.
The Jonathan Bookstore (沙鷗書店) is named after Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, and is a wonderful, intimate venue, dedicated to sharing books and ideas. It’s just down the road from the City God temple (臺灣府城隍廟), and it’s well worth a visit.
