Glutter’s Hong Kong
The Hong Kong Literary Festival starts this Monday.
It features an incredible array of authors, from Chinese Writers Su Tong, Mian Mian and Ma Jian, Asian-American author Gish Jen, Australian Aboriginal author Doris Pilkington, as well as Nobel Prize winner Seamus Heanly and this year’s Booker Prize winner John Bantville. Authors
The talks ranges from the very affordable $80 to the more pricey $350, plus there are free lectures also. Remember to reserve seats for the free lectures because some of them are nearly all reserved.
The time table completely makes no sense because most of the events are in the day when people are at work, not to mention it’s a big chunk of my time out though out this week.
I really prefer if they had a once a month or even twice a month reading for a specific amount of time throughout the year, so Hong Kong can feel like more of a major city where there are literary or art events consistently instead simply during festival times. It’s always a rush, and a flurry of activity, too much money spent, followed by a really dull period with nothing much to do. It’s good to have festivals but Art and culture really should be intertwined into every day life as a habit as just another activity. It’s more enjoyable that way.
Not to complain coz we even have it. I love going to readings. I am looking forward to it.
Yan Sham-Shackleton Online 
Hey – I would love to read more of the Chinese writers you mentioned, like Su Tong and Mian Mian, but I have not been able to find decent translations for them. Do you think you could write about what they’re about and what books are recommended? Or possibly a good English translation?
I know, I know, I should just learn to read in Chinese. 😛
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