Nury Vittachi
Encyclopedia
Nury Vittachi is a journalist and author based in Hong Kong. His columns are published daily, weekly in a variety of newspapers in Asia as well as on his website. He is best known for the comedy-crime novel series The Feng Shui Detective
, published in many languages around the world, but he has also written non-fiction works and novels for children. He is also noted for his role in founding the Asia Literary Review
, the Hong Kong International Literary Festival
, the Man Asian Literary Prize
, and was the chairman of the judges of the inaugural Australia-Asia Literary Award in 2008. Vittachi currently lives in Hong Kong
with his English wife Mary-Lacey Vittachi and their three adopted Chinese children. His father is the famed Sri Lankan journalist Tarzie Vittachi, and his uncle, the late Dr V.P. Vittachchi, is a major shareholder of the biggest conglomerate in Sri Lanka
, the Stassen Group.
, then to Hong Kong
, where he wrote the gossip columns "Lai See" (see red envelope
) and "Spice Trader" for the South China Morning Post
until 1997. Although remembered mainly for humor and affectionate take on cross-cultural clashes, the column was often hardhitting, and regularly received writs.
His abrupt removal at the time of the 1997 change of sovereignty was widely seen as an act of political censorship. Collected editions of the columns under titles such as Only in Hong Kong went through numerous print runs. At the Far Eastern Economic Review
, Vittachi ran a similar region-wide column called "Travellers' Tales".
From the mid-1980s, Vittachi's stock-in-trade included absurd-but-true stories, funny signs, ludicrous menu items, curious business or personal names, instructions for idiots, dumb criminal tales and so on. As Internet usage grew from the mid-1990s, many of these became standard themes of web humor, and currently run on his blog www.misterjam.com. His ear for Asian English resulted in his being commissioned to write scholarly articles in the subject for academic journals.
In April 2003, when widespead fears about the SARS
virus were reported in the media around the world, Vittachi wrote a series of articles scornful of the fear-mongering and argued that the virus would kill fewer people than the common cold
. These articles were widely distributed via email. After his prediction was proved accurate, he received an award in 2004 from the Pacific Asia Travel Association
as travel journalist of the year. This was a rare example of an email winning an award originally intended for mainstream paper-based publications.
, in which the protagonists, a feng shui
master from China, a young woman from Australia, an Indian mystic and various pan-Asian bad guys, explore Asia-Pacific. Five novels had been published by 2009, and many filmmakers have bid for screen rights.
Vittachi is founding editor of the Asia Literary Review
, which has published work by writers such as David Mitchell
, Maxine Hong Kingston
, Hanif Kureishi
, Thomas Keneally
, William Dalrymple and Romesh Gunesekera
. The journal, published since 1999, was designed for Asia-related works "unpublished in English."
He founded the Hong Kong International Literary Festival
Limited in 2000 with Jane Camens.
Vittachi made numerous approaches to organizations to finance an Asian literary prize, and in 2003 spoke to senior officials at the Man Investment Group, backers of the Man Booker Prize
. They declined, being in the midst of preparations to launch the Man Booker International Prize
. Furthermore, relatively few novels were being published from Asia.
In 2005, Vittachi attended the Vogel prize ceremony, an award for unpublished manuscripts in Australia. On his return to Hong Kong, he combined that idea with his journal's slogan, and proposed the creation of a prize for works as yet unpublished in English. After making an impassioned speech to the Man Group's board of directors in January 2006, he secured their agreement to fund the Man Asian Literary Prize
. A former business partner volunteered to do the paperwork for the prize. Vittachi agreed and found himself abruptly removed from the organization. The dispute hit international headlines with allegations of racism. http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=359&Itemid=34http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070207/wl_asia_afp/afplifestylehongkong
In 2008, the author was invited to chair the judges for the inaugural Australia-Asia Literary Award
.
The Feng Shui Detective
The Feng Shui Detective is a series of "comedy-crime" novels by Asian author Nury Vittachi.The books started to appear in Hong Kong in 2000, but since have been printed around the world in multiple languages.-Characters and plot:...
, published in many languages around the world, but he has also written non-fiction works and novels for children. He is also noted for his role in founding the Asia Literary Review
Asia Literary Review
Asia Literary Review is a quarterly literary journal published in Hong Kong and distributed internationally. The coverage includes fiction, memoirs, reportage, poetry, photography and art. The magazine has published interviews with figures such as Salman Rushdie.Contributors have included Xu Xi, Su...
, the Hong Kong International Literary Festival
Hong Kong International Literary Festival
The Hong Kong International Literary Festival is an international literary festival held annually in Hong Kong. In recent years the title sponsor of the festival has been Man Investments, a division of Man Group, title sponsor of the Man Booker Prize...
, the Man Asian Literary Prize
Man Asian Literary Prize
The Man Asian Literary Prize, founded in 2007, is an annual literary award given to the best novel by an Asian writer, either written in English or translated into English, and published in the previous calendar year...
, and was the chairman of the judges of the inaugural Australia-Asia Literary Award in 2008. Vittachi currently lives in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
with his English wife Mary-Lacey Vittachi and their three adopted Chinese children. His father is the famed Sri Lankan journalist Tarzie Vittachi, and his uncle, the late Dr V.P. Vittachchi, is a major shareholder of the biggest conglomerate in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
, the Stassen Group.
Journalism career
Vittachi started his journalism career on Morning Telegraph in Sheffield in the north of England before moving to London's Fleet StreetFleet Street
Fleet Street is a street in central London, United Kingdom, named after the River Fleet, a stream that now flows underground. It was the home of the British press until the 1980s...
, then to Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
, where he wrote the gossip columns "Lai See" (see red envelope
Red envelope
In Chinese and other Asian societies, a red envelope or red packet is a monetary gift which is given during holidays or special occasions.-Usage:Red envelopes are mainly presented at social and family gatherings such as...
) and "Spice Trader" for the South China Morning Post
South China Morning Post
The South China Morning Post , together with its Sunday edition, the Sunday Morning Post, is an English-language Hong Kong newspaper, published by the SCMP Group with a circulation of 104,000....
until 1997. Although remembered mainly for humor and affectionate take on cross-cultural clashes, the column was often hardhitting, and regularly received writs.
His abrupt removal at the time of the 1997 change of sovereignty was widely seen as an act of political censorship. Collected editions of the columns under titles such as Only in Hong Kong went through numerous print runs. At the Far Eastern Economic Review
Far Eastern Economic Review
The Far Eastern Economic Review was an English language Asian news magazine started in 1946. It printed its final issue in December 2009. The Hong Kong-based business magazine was originally published weekly...
, Vittachi ran a similar region-wide column called "Travellers' Tales".
From the mid-1980s, Vittachi's stock-in-trade included absurd-but-true stories, funny signs, ludicrous menu items, curious business or personal names, instructions for idiots, dumb criminal tales and so on. As Internet usage grew from the mid-1990s, many of these became standard themes of web humor, and currently run on his blog www.misterjam.com. His ear for Asian English resulted in his being commissioned to write scholarly articles in the subject for academic journals.
In April 2003, when widespead fears about the SARS
Severe acute respiratory syndrome
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome is a respiratory disease in humans which is caused by the SARS coronavirus . Between November 2002 and July 2003 an outbreak of SARS in Hong Kong nearly became a pandemic, with 8,422 cases and 916 deaths worldwide according to the WHO...
virus were reported in the media around the world, Vittachi wrote a series of articles scornful of the fear-mongering and argued that the virus would kill fewer people than the common cold
Common cold
The common cold is a viral infectious disease of the upper respiratory system, caused primarily by rhinoviruses and coronaviruses. Common symptoms include a cough, sore throat, runny nose, and fever...
. These articles were widely distributed via email. After his prediction was proved accurate, he received an award in 2004 from the Pacific Asia Travel Association
Pacific Asia Travel Association
The is a membership association working to promote the responsible development of travel and tourism in the Asia Pacific region.-Beginnings:The association began in 1951 when Lorrin P...
as travel journalist of the year. This was a rare example of an email winning an award originally intended for mainstream paper-based publications.
Literary work
Vittachi has published a series of novels, The Feng Shui DetectiveThe Feng Shui Detective
The Feng Shui Detective is a series of "comedy-crime" novels by Asian author Nury Vittachi.The books started to appear in Hong Kong in 2000, but since have been printed around the world in multiple languages.-Characters and plot:...
, in which the protagonists, a feng shui
Feng shui
Feng shui ' is a Chinese system of geomancy believed to use the laws of both Heaven and Earth to help one improve life by receiving positive qi. The original designation for the discipline is Kan Yu ....
master from China, a young woman from Australia, an Indian mystic and various pan-Asian bad guys, explore Asia-Pacific. Five novels had been published by 2009, and many filmmakers have bid for screen rights.
Vittachi is founding editor of the Asia Literary Review
Asia Literary Review
Asia Literary Review is a quarterly literary journal published in Hong Kong and distributed internationally. The coverage includes fiction, memoirs, reportage, poetry, photography and art. The magazine has published interviews with figures such as Salman Rushdie.Contributors have included Xu Xi, Su...
, which has published work by writers such as David Mitchell
David Mitchell (author)
David Stephen Mitchell is an English novelist. He has written five novels, two of which were shortlisted for the Booker Prize.- Biography :...
, Maxine Hong Kingston
Maxine Hong Kingston
Maxine Hong Kingston is a Chinese American author and Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, where she graduated with a BA in English in 1962. Kingston has written three novels and several works of non-fiction about the experiences of Chinese immigrants living in the United...
, Hanif Kureishi
Hanif Kureishi
Hanif Kureishi CBE is an English playwright, screenwriter and filmmaker, novelist and short story writer. The themes of his work have touched on topics of race, nationalism, immigration, and sexuality...
, Thomas Keneally
Thomas Keneally
Thomas Michael Keneally, AO is an Australian novelist, playwright and author of non-fiction. He is best known for writing Schindler's Ark, the Booker Prize-winning novel of 1982 which was inspired by the efforts of Poldek Pfefferberg, a Holocaust survivor...
, William Dalrymple and Romesh Gunesekera
Romesh Gunesekera
Romesh Gunesekera FRSL is a British author with a Sri Lankan background.-Life and work:Born in Colombo in 1954, Romesh Gunesekera explores aspects of his native island.He grew up in Sri Lanka and the Philippines, moving to England in 1971...
. The journal, published since 1999, was designed for Asia-related works "unpublished in English."
He founded the Hong Kong International Literary Festival
Hong Kong International Literary Festival
The Hong Kong International Literary Festival is an international literary festival held annually in Hong Kong. In recent years the title sponsor of the festival has been Man Investments, a division of Man Group, title sponsor of the Man Booker Prize...
Limited in 2000 with Jane Camens.
Vittachi made numerous approaches to organizations to finance an Asian literary prize, and in 2003 spoke to senior officials at the Man Investment Group, backers of the Man Booker Prize
Man Booker Prize
The Man Booker Prize for Fiction is a literary prize awarded each year for the best original full-length novel, written in the English language, by a citizen of the Commonwealth of Nations, Ireland, or Zimbabwe. The winner of the Man Booker Prize is generally assured of international renown and...
. They declined, being in the midst of preparations to launch the Man Booker International Prize
Man Booker International Prize
The Man Booker International Prize is a biennial international literary award given to a living author of any nationality for a body of work published in English or generally available in English translation....
. Furthermore, relatively few novels were being published from Asia.
In 2005, Vittachi attended the Vogel prize ceremony, an award for unpublished manuscripts in Australia. On his return to Hong Kong, he combined that idea with his journal's slogan, and proposed the creation of a prize for works as yet unpublished in English. After making an impassioned speech to the Man Group's board of directors in January 2006, he secured their agreement to fund the Man Asian Literary Prize
Man Asian Literary Prize
The Man Asian Literary Prize, founded in 2007, is an annual literary award given to the best novel by an Asian writer, either written in English or translated into English, and published in the previous calendar year...
. A former business partner volunteered to do the paperwork for the prize. Vittachi agreed and found himself abruptly removed from the organization. The dispute hit international headlines with allegations of racism. http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=359&Itemid=34http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070207/wl_asia_afp/afplifestylehongkong
In 2008, the author was invited to chair the judges for the inaugural Australia-Asia Literary Award
Australia-Asia Literary Award
Australia-Asia Literary Award was an initiative of the Government of Western Australia Department of Culture and the Arts. It was one of the richest literary prizes in the region, indeed the world, with a purse of A$110,000. The Award was established in 2007. The first and only winner was...
.
Non-fiction
- Reliable Sauce (1990)
- Only in Hong Kong (1993)
- Travellers’ Tales (1994)
- Goodbye Hong Kong, Hello Xianggang (1997)
- The Ultimate Only in Hong Kong Collection (1998)
- Guardians of the Treasure House (1998)
- Riding the Millennial Storm (1998)
- North Wind (1999)
- City of Dreams (2006)
- The Kama Sutra of Business (2007)
Fiction
- The Hong Kong Joke Book (1995)
- Asian Values (1996)
- The Feng Shui Detective (2000)
- The Feng Shui Detective Goes South (2002)
- The Feng Shui Detective’s Casebook (2003)
- The Shanghai Union of Industrial Mystics (2006)
- Mr. Wong Goes West (2008)
Children’s books
- Ludwig and the Chewy Chunks Café (1994)
- The Amazing life of Dead Eric (2001)
- Robot Junior (1998)
- The True History of Santa Claus (2004)
- The Day it Rained Letters (2005)
- The Paper Princess (2005)
- May Moon and the Secrets of the CPAs (2006)
- Mozzle and the Giant (2006)
- The Place You’re Meant to Be (2006)
- The World’s Funniest Book of Poems (2006)
- Twilight in the Land of Nowhen (2006)
- Jeri Telstar, The Homework Hero (2008)