“I think the concept of taking something familiar and making it seem a little less familiar is one of the things that attracts me to art. By playing with form, I hope to make something a little different, which reflects my experience of hybridity in daily life.”
Sean Wai Keung is a Glasgow-based poet and performer. His pamphlet you are mistaken won the Rialto Open Pamphlet Competition 2016 and he has also released how to cook and be happy, both with Speculative Books. He has developed solo performances with the National Theatre of Scotland, where he was a Starter Artist in 2017, Anatomy Arts, Magnetic North and the Fringe of Colour, and is also a poetry editor at EX/POST magazine. He holds degrees from Roehampton University, London, and the University of East Anglia, Norwich and has been published in 404Ink, Blood Bath, datableedzine and The Suburban Review, amongst others.
SIKFAN GLASCHU
sikfan glaschu is an exploration of identity and authenticity, told through the lens of the city of Glasgow and its restaurants, cafes, languages, histories and lockdowns. By using the city as a starting point, Sean Wai Keung examines his own relationship to food, migration and family, as well as the very notion of ‘belonging’ somewhere in the first place.
Written with honesty and humour, sikfan glaschu is Wai Keung’s exciting debut full-length collection.
SAMPLE POEM
chinatown
this place was built by migrants
therefore it is ours
they came from the gàidhealtachd
they came from the ghalltachd
sometimes i wonder what my 公公 would have thought
had he been given the chance to visit
he had lived in other cities built by migrants
hongkong – liverpool – bradford –
i like to think that if he had been given the chance
he would have liked it
but who can know for sure
when he first arrived in the uk i dont know
what glaschu would have been like
chinatown here opened in 1992
the year after i was born
i moved here three
years after he died
this place was built by migrants
and we have been eating here ever since
Written with honesty and humour, this collection—filled with surprising food memories and adventures—makes one question the meaning of culture, legitimacy and authenticity.
ESEA Joy / Resistance Database Project
In preparation for a performance he’s developing – FORTUNE – Sean’s putting together a database of thoughts actions and activities that express an element of Joy and/or Resitance from East- & South-East-Asian people and communities.
Whether it’s an event you felt free to express yourself or the sharing of a particular meal that brought you joy, Sean’s looking to collect these moments and share them in a public database as well as using some of them in his show.
SEAN'S PAMPHLETS
