Prolific South China Morning Post letter writer Mark Peaker on his new book, why lawmaker Junius Ho ‘needed to be shut up’, and freedom of expression
- For 18 years Mark Peaker has been writing to the South China Morning Post about everything from Hong Kong’s Covid response to LGBTQ rights
- A selection of his letters, illustrated by the Post’s political cartoonist Harry Harrison, can be found in his new book, Peaker of the Peak
For the past 18 years, one particular signature has consistently graced the South China Morning Post’s letters to the editor section: “Mark Peaker, The Peak”.
Originally from London, Peaker first moved to Hong Kong in 1998 to take up a job in finance before co-founding the 3812 Gallery in Central.
While his propensity for writing letters precedes his time in the city – he had already had letters printed in The Times in Britain and The Sydney Morning Herald in Australia – it is his almost two-decades-long relationship with the Post that led him to become known among friends and the newspaper’s readers as a prolific letter writer.
Now, his letters to the Post have been collated in a book titled Peaker of the Peak, released on October 12, which includes illustrations by Harry Harrison, the Post’s political cartoonist.
Proceeds from the book will support Shakespeare 4 All, a performance arts organisation in Hong Kong, which Peaker chairs.
Collectively, Peaker’s concise letters provide a layman’s snapshot of Hong Kong history. Since 2003, he has addressed everything from the political to the mundane, from the controversial to the humorous.