Mongrel International Inc.
Literary Services
Please pay invoices from Mongrel International Inc. via credit card or Paypal at this link. If you have a Paypal account you can pay mongrelintl@gmail.com and quote your invoice #.
Workshops: Summer 2026
TO REGISTER OR APPLY contact mongrelintl@gmail.com
July in the UNESCO City of Literature Iowa City: The Rogue Workshops in partnership with Authors at Large. Week-long in-person workshops and classes offered by six writers, including readings & group meals. Group room rates are available at the Graduate Hotel to all participants on a first-come, first-served basis for July 19 to 26. Use code 93K or go to this link.
Xu: “Writing Transnationally: a generative workshop in fiction”
July 20 to 24 at Porchlight Literary Arts Center 109 E Washington Street, Iowa City
Anyone who traverses nations, cultures or languages embraces the betwixt-and-between of a transnational reality. But how do you write that transnational life into fiction— whether trans-national, -cultural, -lingual, -religious or -societal without bumbling into stereotypes, or worse, way TMI (too much information)? In this workshop, you'll explore writing your transnational fiction in the form and genre that best suits what you most need to write. Through a series of in class reading and writing exercises you'll produce work to be continued outside of workshop. The goal is to produce at least the start of a new piece of fiction that can be submitted to me for individual written comments.
Five daily 2-hour workshop sessions 10 am to 12 noon + private conference + post-workshop individual written manuscript review.
Fee: US$950 (does not include airfare/accommodation); early bird 10% discount if registered by April 15. Limited to 10 writers.
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August 28 to 30 (online by Zoom): Manuscript workshop “Writing Between Languages in Creative Prose.”
Do you have more than one “mother tongue”? Does “mother tongue” to describe the language(s) that spill into your creative work even make sense anymore in this globalized and linguistically fractured world? If you write in English (as so many of us do, regardless of country of origin, ethncity or even our first languages or mother tongues), isn’t there a problem with the dominance of English in the literary world that doesn’t always recognize the fluidity of English in the real world today? We explore all this and more in this workshop where manuscripts that disrupt our literary English language are most welcome. In particular, writing out of Asia or that leans into Asian languages & cultures is especially suited to this workshop (although all other trans-lingual, or trans-cultural expression will also find this manuscript workshop useful). Some pre-workshop readings of published fiction or literary nonfiction will be assigned. Deadline: workshop mansucripts of up to 5,000 words max., plus a short statement of your creative language challenges (max. 250 words) must be submitted by no later than Friday August 7 emailed as a WORD document in standard mss format (double spaced, 12 pt Times or Times New Roman, with at least 1" margins on each side, page sized for US letter 8.5" x 11" or international A4). Please indicate genre of your manuscript as one of these three: F fiction, CNF creative nonfiction or hybrid H F/CNF.
Three 2.5-hour sessions + post-workshop individual written manuscript review. Schedule to accommodate both US time zones mornings + NE & SE Asia time zones evenings: Fri/Sat/Sun EDT 08:00 to 10:30 hrs or Hong Kong/Singapore time 20:00 to 22:30 hrs. Limited to 5 writers by application only (former editorial clients or MA/MFA students email Xu to waive application). Fee: US$600.
Out-of-print books available for sale
(in US$ inclusive of tax)
Paperback (plus postage/shipping)
Chinese Walls & Daughters of Hui, compendium edition $10
Overleaf Hong Kong: stories & essays of the Chinese, overseas $10
Evansecent Isles: from my city-village $10
History's Fiction: stories from the city of Hong Kong, 1st ed. $10
Hong Kong Rose, 2nd ed. $5.50
The Unwalled City $12.50
EBooks
Habit of a Foreign Sky $6
Access: Thirteen Tales $7
Insignificance: Hong Kong Stories $7
Monkey in Residence & Other Speculations $7
To order, please email mongrelintl@gmail.com. For paperback orders, please provide mailing address and preferred shipping method: media mail/book rate (within the US only), first class mail, express mail or Fedex/UPS.