About Us

Creative Work was born in the wake of huge changes in Asia's media environment caused by the relaxation of censorship, the ever-increasing use of the Internet and greater interest in Asian culture. The literary and film agency aims to assist authors, script writers and film/documentary producers to explore the creative and commercial aspects of their ideas and work.

Creative Work also produces and finances films, and is the publisher of the quarterly magazine, the Asia Literary Review.

Duncan Jepson (Director)

A lawyer by profession, Duncan Jepson has been involved in a wide range of film and television work from producer/writer to legal structuring and financing. He has produced three feature films: Rice Rhapsody (with JCE Movies), which won the award for Best Actress at the Newport Beach Film Festival, for Best Theatrical Film at the Houston Film Festival and for Best New Director at the Hong Kong Film awards 2006; Perth, winner of the New Talent Award at Hong Kong Asian Film Festival and Best Film Awards (both jury and public awards) at the Lyon Asian Festival 2006.

He was Director of a production company, which has made numerous documentaries for television channels including Discovery Channel Asia and National Geographic Channel, in particular, Hanging Coffins, which won Discovery Channel Asia's Best Documentary award 2005. Duncan was awarded a script writers development grant in 2004 by the Singapore Film Commission.

In 2003, he was the editor of West East Magazine, which was awarded Best Magazine by 'Society of Asian Publishers' and was selected as one of the top three foreign independent magazines by the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London. In 2004 he launched the Asia Literary Review with writer/journalist Nury Vittachi, and organised China's first youth street writing competition in 2005. He is currently working on his fourth film, Youth, Freedom and the Future: China's Hip Hop Generation. Duncan is a Director of Creative Work Limited.

Peter Koenig (Director)

Peter Koenig is an American who has lived in London since 1983. He is a former business editor of The Independent on Sunday newspaper, a television documentary producer and published fiction writer. He is a winner of an Overseas Press Club Award in the US and a Business Journalism of the Year award in the UK. He is a non-executive Director of Music Copyright Solutions Plc, an international music publishing company and the strategic business advisor to Creative Work.

Ilyas Khan (Director)

Ilyas is a writer, and has published both fiction and non-fiction books. He is a regular contributor of articles and book reviews for a variety of regional and international publications, and within Creative Work Limited takes a special interest in the development of the Asia Literary Review, and the company's relationship with several key partners and associates, including the Hong Kong Literary Festival.

Outside of the creative field, Ilyas Khan is the founder and major shareholder of Hong Kong-listed Techpacific Capital, an investment company that comprises Crosby Capital Partners (listed in London), and Tokyo-listed oil and gas company IB Daiwa.

Ilyas has lived and worked in Hong Kong since 1989, and prior to establishing Techpacific, worked for investment banks such as Citigroup and UBS.

Marysia Juszczakiewicz (Head of Literary Agency)

Having gained a degree in Mandarin Chinese at Durham University, England — a course which included a year (1988-89) in Renmin Daxue, Beijing — Marysia Juszczakiewicz started her publishing career at Hodder Headline. She worked on commercial and literary fiction, dealing with best-selling authors such as Stephen King, Martina Cole and Edwina Currie. She then joined Harlequin Mills & Boon as an editor, where she acquired new authors and worked closely with established names as well as checking Polish and Chinese translations of the books.

Marysia subsequently coordinated the launch of a series of commercial women's fiction at Reader's Digest and managed a wide range of legal and business publications at Sweet & Maxwell.

Since moving to Hong Kong, she has acquired experience in newspaper publishing at the South China Morning Post and, now at Creative Work, is looking for talented writers.

Joyce Li

Joyce Li studied Chinese Language & Literature in the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She has been working in book publishing for 10 years including work with a Chinese publisher, Wanli Company Book Limited , international publisher, John Wiley & Sons, as well as book retailer, Bloomsbury Books Limited, to develop corporate and retail market in the publishing industry. She has excellent connections with Asian publishers and book retailers. Besides, having solid China experience she has also worked in China to set up and run a trade magazine publisher, and build a considerable size of clientele.

She is now based in Hong Kong and involved in sales and marketing at Creative Work.

Zhang Lijia (Literary Scout)

Zhang Lijia was born and raised on the banks of the Yangtze River, working in a rocket factory from the age of 16. She managed to teach herself English and eventually studied journalism in England. She returned to China to become a freelance journalist and has since had articles published in the South China Morning Post, Far Eastern Economic Review, Japan Times, The Independent, Washington Times and Newsweek as well as co-authoring China Remembers, an oral history of contemporary China for Oxford University Press.

In 2004, she received a Masters degree in creative and life writing from Goldsmiths College, University of London, and recently finished her first novel Lotus in English.

She is a regular speaker and lecturer on China's social issues, featuring on the BBC, Channel 4, Channel 5 and National Public Radio, and divides her time between England and China. She is now very closely involved with the literary scene in China and is looking for Chinese writers.

Isaac Stone Fish (Literary Scout and Consultant)

Fluent in Mandarin, Isaac received his BA in Columbia University with a degree in East Asian Languages and Cultures, with his thesis work on modern Chinese writer Mo Yan. Isaac worked for Atlas Books in New York City before moving to Beijing.

As a literary scout and China editor of the Asia Literary Review, Isaac is looking for talented Chinese writers to publish in the West. Please email him at isaac.stonefish@creative-work.com with any comments or questions.