Call for Papers:

Writing the Truth through a Fictional Lens:
Comparing Sinophone and Anglophone Literatures and Cultural Products

Edited by Chi Sum Garfield LAU, Kelly Kar Yue CHAN and Chi Chun CHAN

We are soliciting chapter proposals for an edited volume that contains 8-12 chapters of research articles to dissect the multifaceted connections and discrepancies found in comparing fictional creativity with reality in Sinophone and Anglophone literatures and their cultural works. It delves into the relationships and discrepancies between narrating reality, creating a fictional world that mirrors reality, and aligning fictional creativity with historical contexts. To achieve these purposes, the edited volume centers around three major topics:

Topic 1: Sinophone and Anglophone Life-writings and their Approaches
• Discuss differences and common features in Sino-Western life-writings in terms of thematic focuses, narrative styles, use of rhetoric and target reader.
• Exemplify the ways writers, biographers and autobiographers demonstrate fictional creativity while depicting the truth in various forms of Sinophone and Anglophone life-writings.
• Study changing trends and shifting directions in Sino-Western life writings under digitalization and globalization.

Topic 2: Intertwining Creativity with Real Events in Sinophone and Anglophone Cultural Products
• Showcase the methods used by Sino-Western writers and artists to present creativity via real-life inspirations.
• Contrast Sino-Western perceptions of realistic and imitative presentations.
• Investigate Sino-Western allegorical and symbolic representations of actuality.

Topic 3: Mapping Sinophone and Anglophone Creativity in Actual Historical Domains
• Illustrate the alignments and gaps in Sino-Western creative works set within real historical environments and examine the significance.
• Evaluate the extent cultural products facilitate the understanding of history and culture.
• Review the pedagogies of merging history in cultural media and creative industries.

We welcome submissions that include, but are not limited to, the above topics to illustrate Sino-Western approaches in demolishing and differentiating the boundaries between creativity and writing about reality.

The volume will be jointly edited by academics from Hong Kong Metropolitan University, namely Dr Chi Sum Garfield Lau, Dr Kelly Kar Yue Chan and Dr Chi Chun Chan. Some of their edited books include Conjugal Relationships in Chinese Culture: Sino / Western Discourse and Aesthetics on Marriage (Springer, 2023), The Poetics of Grief and Melancholy in East-West Conflicts and Reconciliations (Springer, 2024), The Myriad Faces of Heroes and Heroines (Springer, 2025), Sonorous Send-offs: Funeral Music in Hong Kong (Hong Kong University Press, Forthcoming, 2026) and Guqin Tradition of the Literati and Tsar Teh-yun's Modern Legacy (The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press, Forthcoming, 2027).

Interested authors should send an abstract (no more than 250 words) and a short biography (no more than 150 words) to the editors (kkychan@hkmu.edu.hk and cslau@hkmu.edu.hk) by 27 February 2026. Authors will be notified of the decision made by the editorial team by 16 April 2026. Only papers that have not been submitted to any other publishers before will be considered for acceptance.

For details and enquiries, please write to kkychan@hkmu.edu.hk and cslau@hkmu.edu.hk.

Full Paper Submission Guideline:
The submission should be between 6,000 and 10,000 words (excluding references) and it should follow the attached full paper style guide (https://www.hkmu.edu.hk/as/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/12/PaperStyleGuide_Eng-2026.pdf).

Submission Channels:
Contributors whose proposals have been accepted would be expected to send the full paper prepared in APA style to kkychan@hkmu.edu.hk and cslau@hkmu.edu.hk by 30 June 2026. All received abstracts and papers will go through the process of internal review and language editing before they are included in the proposal to potential publishers.

Important Dates:

27 February 2026- Deadline of abstract submission
16 April 2026- Notification of acceptance
30 June 2026- Deadline of full paper submission