Hong Kong couple’s Proverse Prize for literature attracts entries from all around the world

When Gillian and Verner Bickley, the Hong Kong-based husband-and-wife team behind Proverse Publishing, discovered that some overseas writing competitions were incredibly restrictive, they set up a prize of their own – and insisted on no borders.

That was in 2008 and since then the Proverse Prize has attracted writers from around the globe and across the spectrum. Entries have been submitted from Britain, Germany, Hong Kong, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Arab Emirates and South Africa – penned by musicians, chiropractors, librarians, nurses and divers, whose ages have ranged from 24 to 91.

“Many genres have been covered: detective fiction, novels, young adult novellas, an autobiography, memoirs, a group of family sketches, poetry collections, a short story collection, a young adult epic and an illustrated book for very young children,” Gillian says. “Past winners have also done well – Peter Gregoire’s Article 109 [2012] became a Hong Kong bestseller and a biography of Sir George Macartney, The Diplomat of Kashgar: A Very Special Agent, is selling steadily.”

Ivy Ngeow, from Malaysia and London, won the first prize for her novel Cry of the Flying Rhino, and Hayley Ann Solomon, from New Zealand, earned the supplementary prize for her poetry collection, Celestial Promise.