Tammy Ho Lai-ming took to writing in English like a duck to water when she was at university.
Encouraged by her professor, she began submitting poetry and short stories to online literary journals which, to her dismay, were non-existent in Hong Kong. So she founded Cha - the city's only such journal, which aims to publish in hard copy form eventually but at present is a 'webzine'.
Nearly three years since its launch, the number of contributors is ever-increasing. Ho and co-editor Jeff Zroback edit their works as part of an effort to cultivate fertile ground for quality Asian literature.
'It definitely takes up a good deal of our time,' says Ho, who is currently studying for a PhD in London. 'But we feel this is something worthwhile and we love doing it, so we don't mind spending time on it.'
Dedicated to publishing poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, reviews, essays and photography from and about Asia, the quarterly Cha receives on average about 500 contributions per issue.
And, as pieces published in Cha have won awards, Ho says she expects the number to continue growing.
