Expat writers going global?
Four of the best known and most prolific expat writers living in Thailand will take part in a panel discussion next week on the "present state and future direction of expatriate fiction in this part of the world".
Published on March 19, 2008
Dean Barrett, Christopher Moore, Stephen Leather, and Colin Cotterill will participate in the talk - "Writing for a Niche Market or a Wider World?" - at the Foreign Correspondents Club at 8pm on Wednesday March 26. The blurb for the event notes that "expatriate writers in Southeast Asia were known mostly for what came to be called 'sexpat' literature". Their books were often dramas about girls from go-go bars with themes that were "variations on every man's search for the hooker with the heart of gold, and the ruin that befalls him". "And while there is still enough of a sexpat market to keep several authors quite comfortably employed, other writers have sought to step out of the genre and produce fiction to today's world standards and tastes. Their work may be set in Southeast Asia or built around Asian themes, reflecting their own personal history or perhaps convenience, but the stories themselves could easily be from anywhere. "Is this the future of expat fiction in Southeast Asia? More to the point, is it any good?" Perhaps we'll find out next week. Stayed tuned.
Jim Pollard daily xpress
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