HKIMHFF

The Hong Kong International Mental Health Film Festival showcases daring and ingenious shorts & features with a broad focus on mental health. @mentalideas

[HKIMHFF @HKIMHFF]

https://t.co/kaSm2gUUMI

[HKIMHFF @HKIMHFF]

@PeterLillyPoems @sadiekaye @HooghlyReview 😍

[Peter Lilly Poetry @PeterLillyPoems]

An absolute delight to be part of @sadiekaye's writer's Gauntlet for @HooghlyReview this week. Sadie is such a generous interviewer and made the whole thing so much fun.

Have a read, have a giggle.

[The Hooghly Review @HooghlyReview]

On @sadiekaye's Writer's Gauntlet this week, we have @PeterLillyPoems, British poet from rural France who enjoys Russian literature, loves the Oxford Comma, inhales Garamond, detests other fonts, and destroys modernist empiricism with facts and science!

https://t.co/z8pVyR3tLk

[The Hooghly Review @HooghlyReview]

This week on the Writer's Gauntlet with @sadiekaye, we have Emma Pei Yin, winner of the 2026 Indie Book Award for Debut Fiction and professional rummager through inconvenient histories.

https://t.co/27rXOROXpJ

[Shikha Sawhney @ShikhaSLamba]

𝐍𝐄𝐖 Cha: An Asian Literary Journal 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 | In "Challenging the Patriarchy with Poetry and Prose", @sadiekaye interviews Shikha S. Lamba.

Sadie's introduction:
/ Some interviews begin with a résumé. This one began with a single sentence that clicked into place. Shikha S. Lamba, a globally published poet, jewellery designer and gemologist, editor of 𝐶𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 @CoffeeConMag , and women’s rights advocate now living in Hong Kong, moves between creative forms the way a reader moves between pages: alert to patterns, hungry for the truth, unwilling to flinch and look away.

In our conversation, Shikha traces an origin story that starts with two novels by @NadiaHashimi read in a time of upheaval and ripples outward into community, craft, and solidarity. There are books that become lifelines, candles that become altars, poems that empower and emphasise the gentle art of showing up for women, for stories, for Afghanistan.

In June 2026 she began curating a collection to raise the poetic voices of Afghan women in creative partnership with @JackCaradoc ‘s literary magazine 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐶𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑦𝑚𝑎𝑛’𝑠 𝑇𝑟𝑢𝑚𝑝𝑒𝑡. The collection was published in August 2026. /

𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗: https://t.co/RU5sFi18o3

@asiancha
。。。。。

[The Hooghly Review @HooghlyReview]

In this fascinating, must-read conversation, @sadiekaye and Holly Sykes discuss book covers, memory and memoir, and how a book’s cover transports us “right back to the exact moment, place, and emotional headspace we were in when we first read it.” 📚

https://t.co/pmeHFUneFh

[Cha: An Asian Literary Journal @asiancha]

𝐍𝐄𝐖@asiancha𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐀𝐓����𝐎𝐍 | Sadie Kaye talks to Holly Sykes, 2024 Page Turner winner: "What happens when a self-proclaimed 'shy person' swaps the muddy, rolling hills of NW England for the densely populated, neon-lit streets of Hong Kong?"

https://t.co/ok1OY9Q8Lk

[Shikha Sawhney @ShikhaSLamba]

I will admit, I was taken by surprise when The Candyman’s Trumpet editor @JackCaradoc asked me to send him two of my poems to include in this issue.

I really wanted my poems to be connected to Afghanistan or the issue itself.
“For the Afghan Tulip” is a new piece, that came to me quite quickly, and it carries with it a remembrance of two stories I recently read by two Afghan authors.

Many of you know that music is currently banned in Afghanistan. “Of course, Afghans are still going to quietly play their music in their homes because they can’t live without it, but now it has to be an act of rebellion, it takes on a different significance, now that they have gone around and destroyed instruments”, says @NadiaHashimi in a recent interview.

Nadia’s new novel, City of Widows pays homage to music and the “deep cultural loss” that it is after the regime banned it.
If you’ve been here for a bit, you already know I highly recommend this novel and the author.

The second story that came to my mind while I wrote this was one called, Lady Robab, one of the stories in, Your War, Our Lives, a fantastic collection of short stories by @minasharif

Mina Sharif’s short stories give such an original, nuanced and real insight into the lives of Afghan people from all walks of life. It captures the everyday life of Afghans with all its complexity. I highly recommend her book.

Thanks for reading. The link to the whole issue is here - https://t.co/i49IQGq3R1
Please do read it and share it, and I would love to know your thoughts about it. I know the poets would love to hear from readers as well. I’ll share all messages with them.

[Shikha Sawhney @ShikhaSLamba]

Dear friends,
The August issue of The Candyman’s Trumpet has arrived, shining a spotlight on poetry by Afghan women and girls. As the 6th anniversary of the Taliban’s takeover draws near, this issue stands as a powerful testament: even in the face of relentless attempts by this regime to silence them, Afghan women and girls continue to raise their voices. They write, create, and assert their presence in the world, refusing to be erased by the unimaginable hardships they endure.

Within this issue, you will discover the poetry of twenty-five Afghan women and girls: twelve writing from within Afghanistan and thirteen from the diaspora.

Curating this special section has been a true honour for me.

My heartfelt thanks go to @JackCaradoc , editor of The Candyman’s Trumpet, for opening this space and standing in solidarity with women and girls in Afghanistan.

To read the issue, please subscribe to the magazine via email - [email protected]
(Subscription is free).

Please share this issue and the work of the poets featured, and amplify their voices within your communities.

*The August issue also features wonderful poetry by other poets from around the globe in the open section.

#thecandymanstrumpet #endgenderapartheidinafghanistan #afghanwomenpoets #poetry

[Shikha Sawhney @ShikhaSLamba]

A huge thanks to @sadiekaye and @mentalideas for sharing the August issue of The Candyman’s Trumpet, a Scotland based journal, edited by @JackCaradoc , which shines a spotlight on poetry by Afghan women and girls.

I’m so grateful for your encouragement and solidarity, Sadie. It means so much to have the support of a fellow Hong Kong Women in Publishing Society @HKWiPS and Hong Kong Writers Circle member 🌺

Thank you for sharing the poetic voices of Afghan women and girls with your community.

* Mental Ideas is an arts, film and media platform supporting all forms of artistic self-expression, innovation, and social enterprise with a focus on mental health. The platform spotlights and connects artists, writers and filmmakers from around the world to share ideas, innovate and collaborate as a creative community.

** Sadie Kaye is a storyteller from Hong Kong who creates quirky podcasts, offbeat documentaries, and independent films. Her humour columns for 香港電台 Radio 3, rants, reviews and musings on mental health have been published by the South China Morning Post @SCMPNews , @asiancha , @HooghlyReview and featured in many anthologies. Her work has received recognition from the Association for International Broadcasting, the New York Festivals Radio Awards, On Air Fest, International Women’s Podcast Awards and Comedy Women in Print Prize. She has produced two feature films for Contro Vento Films. Transference (2020)
went viral on YouTube, exceeding 30 million views. To Love a Narcissist (2025) was released in North America 19 May 2026 and is currently being rolled out worldwide. She’s a mental health ambassador for Mind HK 香港心聆 and the founder of nonprofit groups Mental Ideas, Bipolar Hong Kong and Home Kong Kitchen.

You can read the issue here - https://t.co/FbyNIxb9Fv

[The Hooghly Review @HooghlyReview]

This week on the Writer's Gauntlet with @sadiekaye, we have Nathan Lauer, who sports whiskers like Motörhead's Lemmy Kilmister and procrastinates by doing the dishes before writing.

https://t.co/QtQc7zyqcP

[Shikha Sawhney @ShikhaSLamba]

Two powerhouse creatives!
Loved it.

[The Hooghly Review @HooghlyReview]

@ShikhaSLamba @NadiaHashimi @sadiekaye Although we have never been to Hong Kong, the talent and love we receive from HK writers is beyond compare, and we like to believe we are there, with you all, in HK. Thank you, Shikha, for sharing. :)

[Shikha Sawhney @ShikhaSLamba]

While her books have made me cry and how, through the years I also got to know how amazingly witty and funny @NadiaHashimi is, and I’m thrilled she’s on The Writer’s Gauntlet series on @HooghlyReview by the very funny & talented @sadiekaye (who has made me laugh so much I almost peed my pants).

This collaboration is just too good. Read and laugh 😁

@heatherbarr1 @faribanawa

[Shikha Sawhney @ShikhaSLamba]

@HooghlyReview @NadiaHashimi @sadiekaye Thank you both for being the editors, thinkers, writers and collaborators you are 😊
Love The Hooghly Review and the support you show us writers from around the globe :)
Not to mention you guys come up with and support some of the coolest ideas 😁

[t @myetcetera]

𝐍𝐄𝐖@asiancha𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 | Sadie Kaye talks to Holly Sykes, 2024 Page Turner winner: "What happens when a self-proclaimed 'shy person' swaps the muddy, rolling hills of NW England for the densely populated, neon-lit streets of Hong Kong?"

https://t.co/Ck3QowDKNz

[Shikha Sawhney @ShikhaSLamba]

An interview with so much depth. One that needs time. Please do read. Both Holly and Sadie are such lovely people, and wonderful writers.

[The Hooghly Review @HooghlyReview]

This week on The Writer's Gauntlet, @sadiekaye brings us @NadiaHashimi, who is an authority on military grade arms and IEDs, has been mixing vinegar with baking soda since forever, but, to the best of our knowledge, is definitely not an arsonist.

https://t.co/sSDEVyojy5

[The Hooghly Review @HooghlyReview]

Today's edition of The Writer's Gauntlet with @sadiekaye has Lindsey McAlister, theatre director, writer, and founder of the Hong Kong Youth Arts Foundation, who has written and directed over thirty original musicals and large-scale devised productions.

https://t.co/N8v1wn60bh

[HKIMHFF @HKIMHFF]

@HooghlyReview @sadiekaye Love this!