HOLD YOUR BREATH, STEP BACK, BREATHE, CLEAR YOUR HEAD, FOCUS, JUST DO IT !
An independent publisher jumps among roles, especially a publisher of visual culture. From editorial direction, art directing, proofreading, design & photography, color management & production, exhibition curation, debt collection, recruitment & counselling, rights licensing, marketing, to sales & distribution…
This sharing session reflects on shouldering these diverse roles at different stages – the shifts of curating bookstores, the creative collaborations in shaping books, the exciting edge of independent publishing, and the changes in publishing practices over the past three decades.
Publishing is a learning process that challenges the eye, ear, hand, heart and physique – learning to walk uphill, to shoulder the weight, work with scarce resources, recycle creatively, and sometimes deal with the mismatched.
After 25 years of directing an independent publishing house, Mary Chan closed the MCCM studio office. Books, CD images, prints, production materials, paper & book inventory, reference books, press-clippings, unpublished manuscripts – a painstaking process of clearance, sorting, archiving, donating… Decisions!
The Speaker
Mary Chan (Lai Shan) founded MCCM Creations (www.mccmcreations.org), an independent Hong Kong publishing house in 2001, mostly specialising in bilingual publications. Aside from art, design and architecture book genres for adults, MCCM also published a collection of illustrated fiction and picture books for children and young adults.
Chan sees book publishing as an art form. A dynamic medium. An innovative integration of texts, visual art, and graphic design to create tactile and delightful reading experiences. This publishing attitude was shaped by an early career in magazine publishing and at the Fringe Club during the 1980s, and advertising agencies and multi-national corporations in the 90s. Beyond publishing, Chan has curated and operated bookstores at the Hong Kong Arts Centre, PMQ, and the Hong Kong Museum of Art, hosting many visual storytelling and cultural engagement programmes. Her contributions to the publishing industry extend to the international. In 2008, as a Fellow of the Frankfurt Book Fair (FBF), she was invited to participate in the Abu Dhabi Book Fair, making MCCM one of the first Chinese publishers to enter readership markets in the Middle East. In 2014, the American Institute of Architects Hong Kong Chapter recognised Chan’s and MCCM’s commitment to publishing original and inspiring books on art, architecture, design, and the visual culture, and for fostering public awareness of issues related to the built environment. In the following year, Chan was nominated by Goethe Institut-Hong Kong to participate in the FBF Professional Exchange Program. Chan was a panel judge for ‘the Most Beautiful Czech Books 2023’ award organised by the Muzeum Literatury in Prague.
PROGRAMME
Speaker: Mary Chan, Independent publisher, Founder of MCCM Creations
Date: Tuesday, 21 April 2026
Time: 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm (Reception starts at 6:30 pm)
Venue: Café 8, Roof, Hong Kong Maritime Museum, Pier 8, Central
Admission: $175 for members, $220 for guests /non-members
(Light refreshments are included in the admission fee)
Registration: Please email <membership@royalasiaticsociety.org.hk> and provide your membership number, if applicable, at the time of registration. Please kindly complete your registration by advance payment via Stripe's payment links below (using your Credit Card):
Members ($175):
https://buy.stripe.com/8x23cw8FueEM0mvegp5EY35
Non-member / Guest ($220):
https://buy.stripe.com/00w6oIf3S0NWfhpgox5EY36
Details about the other payment option will be sent on registration. Upon receipt of payment, your
registration will be confirmed by email. Registration will be closed at 12 noon on 20 April 2026.