Dr Shawn Shao Dong, Assistant Professor in the School of Arts and Social Sciences and Acting Head of Creative Arts, published his first short story collection, Air Guitar (空氣吉他), last summer. Since then, the work has won much critical acclaim. Most recently, it was shortlisted for the final list of the Blancpain-Imaginist Literary Prize co-organised by the Swiss luxury watch manufacturer Blancpain and Imaginist, an influential publisher in China.

The Blancpain-Imaginist Literary Prize is the first Chinese literary award jointly established by a commercial brand and a publishing brand that is aimed at discovering and encouraging outstanding young writers under the age of 45.

Air Guitar is a collection of nine “airy” stories fabricated based on Dr Shao's teenage life in his hometown as well as his observations and imagination over 10 years in Hong Kong. Together, they produce a satire of modern life that is made up of pretension, lies and second-hand experiences. The judges praised Dr Shao's work for its exceptional readability and sophisticated flair in a time when the general trend of writing has become rather conceptual and flat. Air Guitar was previously selected for the monthly book list of Chinese and foreign fiction (August) under Tencent Holdings Limited and China Literature Limited's “Searchlight Selection” (探照燈好書), and went on the list of the “Best Chinese Books of the Year 2022” (2022文學報年度好書榜) by Wenxue Bao (文學報) in Shanghai.