When Sleeping Women Wake: Workshop with Writer and Editor Emma Pei Yin

When Sleeping Women Wake
Workshop with Writer and Editor Emma Pei Yin

Moderator:
Crystal Kwok, Department of History, HKU

Date: Thursday, March 5, 2026
Time: 4:00 pm Hong Kong Time
Venue: MB217, 2/F, Main Building, The University of Hong Kong
All are welcome. Registration is required.

Emma Pei Yin is an Australian-Chinese writer and editor. Her debut novel, “When Sleeping Women Wake,” has been published globally, translated into multiple languages. It was longlisted for the ARA Historical Novel Prize (2025) and shortlisted for the Australian Indie Book Awards (2026).

The novel follows the lives of three women caught up the turmoil of the Second Sino-Japanese War. In 1941, following the Japanese occupation of Shanghai, the wealthy Tang family flee to Hong Kong. As the First Wife of the family, Mingzhu leads a sheltered – if lonely – existence overseeing her daughter Qiang and managing the household alongside her devoted maid, Biyu. But when the Japanese army invade, the three women are scattered. Mingzhu is coerced into working for a Japanese captain. Qiang and Biyu escape the island, only to be forced into factory work then separated after an encounter with the East River Column Resistance fighters. Beautifully told and compulsively written, “When Sleeping Women Wake” is an utterly transporting story of female resistance and untold bravery, at once epic and intimate, heartbreaking and hopeful.

Emma Pei Yin explores how histories of sex work, sexual coercion and gendered labour are often lived not through clarity or explanation, but through pressure, routine and silence—particularly in wartime contexts. Drawing on her novel “When Sleeping Women Wake” and the work of writers including Iris Chang, Lisa See, Jing-Jing Lee, and Lynn Bracht, Emma will examine how shifts in daily life and relationships can function as historical clues rather than missing pieces of the record. The workshop will discuss different approaches to representing sexual violence and coerced labour, including the use of restraint, implication and attention to consequence. There will also be a short, low-pressure writing and reflection exercise that invite participants to think carefully about how history first shows up in ordinary life. No prior writing experience is required, and participants are not expected to share their work.

This workshop is held as part of the course HIST2219: History through Sex Work, with the support of the Department of History, the Committee on Gender Equity and Diversity (CGED), and the Center for the Study of Globalization and Cultures (CSGC) in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Hong Kong. Emma Pei Yin appears courtesy of the Hong Kong International Literary Festival.