‘NOTHING IS PERMANENT but change,’ said Heraclitus.

     Whether the celebrated Greek philosopher had the Asia Literary Review in mind when he fashioned those words of wisdom is debatable; nevertheless we have lived up to them.

     This issue of the ALR is brought to you by a new editorial team. The previous incumbents did an excellent job of establishing the magazine at a level at which it enjoys a certain prestige. One of our aims now, with the assistance of the irresistible currents of history, is to spread the ALR gospel farther.

     The twenty-first, so the commentators say, will be the “Asian century”: more words of wisdom, perhaps. Political, financial and even military ascendancy are always reflected in the literature produced in a certain place at a certain time: literature holds a mirror to the human experience. Today, Asian literature, in all its definitions, is capable of anything and everything, so powerful is the engine driving Asian ambition.

     The ALR is uniquely positioned, as the leading literary magazine of its kind on the continent, to fly the flag for outstanding writing of all genres. While marquee bylines on the cover are admittedly good for business (and the soul), the ALR remains committed to giving a voice to outstanding Asian authors, and authors writing about Asia, who otherwise might never be discovered or published.

     Our mission is also to take risks and challenge accepted form, so please expect to see themed issues, regular columns, readers’ letters, graphics and other initiatives. To that end, we invite readers to contact us with their opinions on the content and direction of the ALR, with a view to publication. Our email addresses can be found on page 2.

     Vibrant and assertive Asian writing is emerging from Bangalore to Singapore, Harbin to Hanoi, yet much of it remains undiscovered by readers of English. This is the work we aim to bring to your attention.

     To restate our goals: exercising at all times level-headed literary judgment, we are determined to make the ALR the outstanding international literary magazine and to publish the finest literature possible, in translation or native English. Exceptional writers are out there and we are bent on finding them, for and with you. Difficult? Quite possibly. But don’t forget: even Salman Rushdie was unheard of once.

     Finally, we offer a few thoughts on the health of the printed word. Much has been made in recent months of the march towards presumed dominance of the same by Apple’s iPad and dedicated e-readers, such as the Kindle. The ALR is working with content providers to ensure our articles can be downloaded to all species of electronic media; our website will be the repository of not only the content available in the physical magazine, but of interviews, podcasts and more. Submissions that do not find a home in the ALR sold in bookshops may well find a niche in the ALR online.

     However, our primary product remains the ALR you hold in your hands. No matter what content – thanks to the magic of new technology – we can provide for you in audible words and moving pictures, the ALR will always be a literary magazine, devoted to the best of the written word. Print is not dead; it is merely sloughing off decades of calcification to emerge slimmed down and fighting fit into a world in which its younger brother is demanding to be heard and seen. We hear and see him too.

     ‘Nothing is permanent but change,’ said Heraclitus. That may be so. But in insisting on original writing of the finest quality, the ALR’s standards, we trust, remain the same.