Two views of Anglophone Southeast Asia: The Heinemann Writing in Asia series and Skoob Pacifica

Abstract

This article surveys two important early publishers of writing from Southeast Asia with a regional reach and presents a case for understanding transnational connections based on publishing and writerly networks. Founded by Leon Comber in 1966, the Heinemann Writing Asia series emerged amidst a decolonizing Southeast Asia, publishing authors from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand. Besides being an important publication outlet for local writers without access to metropolitan publishing houses, the series arguably provided a regional outlet for works that fall outside the political rhetoric of national consolidation, while canonizing others from established literary traditions. The second half of the paper examines Skoob Pacifica, a London-based publishing imprint active between 1992 and 1994, paying specific attention to the two anthologies titled S. E. Asia Writes Back! and The Pen is Mightier than the Sword. The press was the first to position Southeast Asian writers and the region in opposition to the imperial metropole, in line with the rise of postcolonial studies in the Anglo-American academy. Significantly, Skoob Pacifica mirrors the earlier linguistic and geographical formation of the Heinemann series as a reflection of colonial linguistic legacies. By examining the affordances and limitations of Anglophone Southeast Asia through a materialist lens in the broader context of post independence and the Cold War, this essay makes a methodological case for understanding the region as a literary unit through its publishing networks.