1 - 10 November 2019 Schools Programme Pack
Every year, the Hong Kong International Literary Festival brings writers to schools for talks and workshops, creating unique opportunities for young people to meet some of the world’s greatest storytellers. In 2018 we worked with more than 70 schools to connect with over 15,000 students.
We strongly believe that literature should be a vital component of every child’s education regardless of their background and reading ability. With the Schools Programme, we hope to promote higher levels of literacy in Hong Kong and to nurture a generation of outward-looking, globally engaged citizens.
Schools receiving funding from the government are eligible for our School Subsidy Scheme. Schools can also order books through the Festival’s official bookseller, Bookazine.
To organize an author visit, or tickets for an interschool session please fill in the booking form in this pack and email Ann Chan at [email protected]
SCHOOL VISITS Hong Kong International Literary Festival www.festival.org.hk
Talks last for an hour (inclusive of Q&A); workshops last for an hour and a half.
Tickets are priced at HK$50 per student for talks and HK$100 per student for workshops.
For non-subsidised schools, the price per session is capped at a maximum of HK$7,500 (i.e. you will not be charged more than HK$7,500 regardless of the number of students participating).
The minimum number of students per session is 20, although we will prioritize session for schools who book for higher numbers of students.
Local schools receiving government funding (government/aided/DSS) can apply for subsidy. Please complete the School Subsidy Scheme application and submit it along with your booking form.
TALK WORKSHOP
PRICE PER STUDENT 50 100 (HK$)
STUDENT CAPACITY Unlimited 20 - 40 (subject to author requirements)
The following is a list of our authors available for school visits and their tentative availability. Target audiences are flexible and subject to discussion.
Please see page 39 for a table of the available dates for all our authors, and page 40 for the booking form.
Hong Kong International Literary Festival www.festival.org.hk Authors
JOHN BOYNE
John Boyne is an Irish author of eleven novels for adults, six for younger readers and a collection of short stories. Boyne’s most well-known work is his 2006 bestseller, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, which has been sold 9 million copies worldwide and adapted for cinema, theatre, ballet, and opera. Boyne has won three Irish Book Awards and many other international literary awards. His novels are also published in over 50 different languages.
In this session, John Boyne will share his recent work, My Brother’s Name is Jessica, followed by a Q&A on gender identity in writing.
Sessions: Target audience: 12 - 18 Tech requirements: Laptop, projector and screen, audio, clicker, mic
Availability: 4 November Talk – My Brother’s Name is Jessica and Children’s Transgender Identity Why did John Boyne choose to write on one of the most controversial issues in our society today? Learn from Boyne, whose most recent novel My Brother’s Name is Jessica deals with transgender identity and the difficult process of coming out.
Hong Kong International Literary Festival www.festival.org.hk
SHELLY BRYANT
Shelly Bryant divides her time between Shanghai and Singapore, working as a poet, writer, and translator. She is the author of ten volumes of poetry, a pair of travel guides for the cities of Suzhou and Shanghai, and a book on classical Chinese gardens. Bryant’s poetry has appeared in journals, magazines and websites around the world, as well as in several art exhibitions including dark ’til dawn, Things Disappear, and Studio White. Bryant’s translations have also received high acclaim. Her translation of Sheng Keyi’s Northern Girls was longlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize in 2012 and her translation of You Jin’s In Time, Out of Place was shortlisted for the Singapore Literature Prize in 2016.
Launch Pad (2017) is Bryant’s first fiction collection. Through her short stories, Bryant explores the trajectory of Singapore as a launch pad into the past, present and future; she takes the reader on a journey of discovery from the earliest days of Singapura to the far future, using Singapore as a bridge between worlds and a crossroads between times.
Sessions Target audience: 12 - 18 Tech requirements: Laptop, projector and screen, audio, clicker, mic
Availability: 7 - 8 November Workshop – Translating with Shelly Bryant Join Shelly Bryant as she discusses the process behind her highly acclaimed translations, from tennis star Li Na’s memoir Li Na: My Life, to three of Chinese author Sheng Keyi’s novels, including Northern Girls, which was longlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize in 2012.
Workshop – Writing with Shelly Bryant Learn from writer Shelly Bryant as she discusses poetry, travel and delves into the inspiration of Launch Pad, her first fiction collection.
Hong Kong International Literary Festival www.festival.org.hk
MOE CLARK
Moe Clark is a Canadian multidisciplinary Métis artist, spoken word poet, educator, artistic producer and more. Her poems are layered sonic masterpieces, using tonal and lyrical resonances to enthrall audiences. Clark facilitates spoken word, written and looping pedal workshops for both youth and professionals, teaching in schools and Aboriginal communities. She has gone as far north as Iqaluit to offer intergenerational storytelling exchanges and as far south as Brazil to collaborate inter-culturally with the Tembe people. Focusing on accessibility and inclusivity, Clark encourages active dialogue, collaborative creation and performance.
As a performer and public speaker, Clark has appeared at multiple venues to present creative works transcending both borders and disciplines. She performed as Poet of Honour for the 2014 Canaian Festival of Spoken Word and for the Canadian Olympic Team at the 2012 Olympic Summer Games in London. She has also collaborated on numerous artistic projects, including directing the 10th Annual Canadian Festival of Spoken Word in Montreal, Bird Messengers theatre performance with Émilie Monnet, and Back to Where My Heart Belongs Cree language songwriting project with Joseph Naytowhow and Cheryl L’Hirondelle.Clark incorporates gospel, soul, folk and spoken word to her poetry performances, making any session entertaining, alluring and riveting.
Sessions Target audience: 8 - 18 Tech requirements: Laptop, projector and screen, audio, clicker, mic
Availability: 7 - 8 November Workshop – Youth Spoken Word Poetry Multidisciplinary Metis artist Moe Clark frequently teaches spoken word poetry as an effective tool to empower youth through their language and self-expression skills. Focusing on accessibility and inclusivity, she encourages active dialogue, collaborative creation and performance. In this session, Clark will introduce youth to spoken word poetry, encouraging them to share their stories and discover the power of voice
Talk – Sound Inspiration Metis artist Moe Clark effortlessly combines spoken word poetry, aural lyricism and alluring musicality into her multidisciplinary performances. From the looping pedal to Cree language songwriting, Clark engages and enthralls her audience, touching upon universal artistic identities. Listen and be inspired.
Hong Kong International Literary Festival www.festival.org.hk PHILIP CRACKNELL
A resident of Hong Kong for over 30 years, historian Philip Cracknell is an expert on the historical significance of Hong Kong during World War Two. His military blog, which specializes in the battle for Hong Kong during December 1941, has received more than 234,000 views since its inception in 2013.
After retiring from banking, Cracknell began devoting time to scouring the old battlefields of Hong Kong, supplementing his findings with archival research in both London and Hong Kong. Now, Cracknell is publishing his first book, Battle for Hong Kong December 1941, which uses a research-driven narrative to cover the who, what, when, where, why and how of the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong in 1941. Battle for Hong Kong discusses Hong Kong’s battle against overwhelming odds, an oft-forgotten story which resulted in the tragic death of 10 000 Hong Kong civilians during the subsequent four-year Japanese occupation.
In his spare time, Cracknell conducts battlefield tours for the Hong Kong Club, Royal Asiatic Society, veterans, schools and charities.
Sessions Target audience: 14 - 18 Tech requirements: projector and screen, audio, clicker, mic
Availability: 4 - 8 November Talk – Battle for Hong Kong December 1941 December 1941 is known primarily for Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor. This event often overshadows a neglected, yet no less gripping, attack on Hong Kong. Join historian Philip Cracknell as he delves into the details of the Battle for Hong Kong, challenging common assumptions and outlining the desperate three weeks of fighting before Hong Kong’s surrender on December 25, 1941. Each school will receive a free autographed copy of Cracknell’s book Battle for Hong Kong December 1941 for their library.
Guided Walk - Local History Walk and Battlefield Tour In December 1941, Japanese forces invaded Hong Kong; the resulting battle ended with Hong Kong’s surrender and over 10,000 civilian casualties. The combatants were made up of British, Canadian, Indian, Portuguese and Hong Kong Chinese. Local historian Philip Cracknell will lead guests through one of the major battlefields in Hong Kong. The battlefield tour will be focused on the area around Wong Nai Chung Gap and Jardine’s Lookout. This is where the crucial battle took place. There are many military remains,
Hong Kong International Literary Festival www.festival.org.hk including the ruins of gun batteries, pillboxes and bomb proof shelters. Philip will explain what happened at each location and provide context and insight on both the battle and the period of occupation which lasted until liberation in August 1945. The walk is mostly flat or downhill with one or two short uphill sections, and is suitable for older students.
Hong Kong International Literary Festival www.festival.org.hk
BENJAMIN DIX
Photographer and graphic novelist Benjamin Dix is the founder of PositiveNegatives, an organization producing comics, animations and podcasts about contemporary social and humanitarian issues. PositiveNegatives uses creative storytelling to share the voices of the marginalized and cultivate a more understanding world. Dix is also a Senior Fellow at SOAS, University of London, and has worked as a Communications and Liaison Manager for the United Nations and various international NGOs across Asia and Africa.
Inspired by his work for the UN in the LTTE-controlled Vanni, north Sri Lanka, from 2004-8, Dix created graphic novel Vanni with illustrator Lindsay Pollock. Using first-hand interviews, official reports and expert field research, Vanni shares the human costs of modern warfare and forced migration. Vanni is a moving exploration of a single family’s struggles through Vanni’s post-tsunami reconstruction and subsequent civil war. Elegantly drawn, Dix presents relevant social and humanitarian issues with an immediate and deft urgency.
Sessions Target audience: 12-18 Tech requirements: Laptop, projector and screen, audio, clicker, mic
Availability: 4 - 5 November Talk – Ben Dix: PositiveNegatives and transforming conflict into art Author Ben Dix’s graphic novel Vanni (illustrated by Lindsay Pollock) aims to introduce the reader to the tragedy and desperation of individuals caught in war-torn zones. His organization, PositiveNegatives, uses creative storytelling to transform social issues of war and forced migration into comics and art forms. Join Dix as he recounts the humanity, creativity and resilience driving Vanni.
Hong Kong International Literary Festival www.festival.org.hk
KIT FAN
Kit Fan’s poetry moves as seamlessly between Hong Kong and European cultural histories as his writing does between poetry and narrative fiction. Born in Hong Kong, Fan moved to Britain at 21, where he now lives. His first book Paper Scissors Stone won the inaugural HKU International Poetry Prize. He was shortlisted for the Guardian 4th Estate BAME Short Story Prize consecutively in 2017 and 2018 for his stories Duty Free and City of Culture, and for the 2017 TLS Mick Imlah Poetry Prize. In 2018, Fan won a Northern Writers’ Award for Diamond Hill, a novel-in-progress portraying a deprived community in the last shanty town in Hong Kong before the handover of the city from Britain to China in 1997.
Released last year, Fan’s second poetry collection As Slow As Possible is a Poetry Book Society Recommendation, The Irish Times Best Poetry Book of the Year and was chosen by The Guardian as one of the biggest books in 2018. As Slow As Possible is a book on change, bridging far-flung places and times in an unprecedented collection of shape-shifting, trans-migrant poems. The three parts weave between East and West, past and present, art and memory, connected by Fan’s central sequence ‘Genesis’, a visual and narrative retelling of Chinese creation myths in the language of the authorised King James Bible.
Sessions Target audience: 12 - 18 Tech requirements: Laptop, projector and screen, audio, clicker, mic
Availability: 4 - 8 November Talk – Poetry Reading and Storytelling with Kit Fan What are voices and stories that make poetry and fiction? Can there be a future without the past and the present? What do we mean when we say Hong Kong is our home, but there are so many places elsewhere in the world that people call home? Join writer Kit Fan on a journey of unlikely bridges. Kit will read poems for his recent collection As Slow As Possible and a short story 'Duty Free' set in the Hong Kong Airport, followed by a discussion on the influence of culture and history on his diverse and layered writing.
Workshop – Poetry with Kit Fan Kit Fan’s poetry is transcendental, translocational and transformative. His recent collection, As Slow As Possible, is a Poetry Book Society Recommendation, The Irish Times
Hong Kong International Literary Festival www.festival.org.hk Best Poetry Book of the Year and was chosen by The Guardian as one of the biggest books in 2018. Learn from Fan and start composing today.
Hong Kong International Literary Festival www.festival.org.hk
CRISTINA RIVERA GARZA
Renowned Mexican author Cristina Rivera Garza’s writing moves freely between style and genre—a seamless blend of historical reality and artistic imagination, Rivera treats writing as an extension of her thoughts. She has authored six novels, three short story collections, five poetry collections and three non-fiction books; her works include Nadie me vera Illorar (translated into English as No One Will See Me Cry by Andrew Hurley) and La muerte me da, which have won her the International Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Prize twice, the only author to achieve that distinction.
Writing in both Spanish and English, Garza is frequently influenced by her experience growing up in Tamaulipas, south of the US, and teaching on both sides of the US-Mexico border. She has often focused on the voices of the marginalized, challenging conventional attitudes towards prostitution, gender identity, cultural erasure and insanity. Garza has also won the Juan Vicente Melo National Short Story Award, the Anna Seghers International Prize and the Roger Caillois Award for Latin American Literature.
Originally El mal de la Taiga, Suzanne Jill Levine and Aviva Kana have translated Garza’s novel The Taiga Syndrome, her writing elevated beyond the confines of narrative frames. The Taiga Syndrome reimagines archetypal characters and motifs, luring Garza’s reader into a surreal world of mystery, noir and disequilibrium.
Sessions Target audience: 12-18 Tech requirements: Laptop, projector and screen, audio, clicker, mic
Availability: 7 - 8 November Talk – Literary Subversion with Cristina Rivera Garza Critina Rivera Garza’s novel The Taiga Syndrome (originally El mal de la Taiga, translated by Suzanne Jill Levine and Aviva Kana) is part fairy tale, part social commentary and full horror. Imbued with Garza’s trademark elegance and subversion, The Taiga Syndrome is Garza at her most chilling, juxtaposing surreal prose with the narrative’s encroaching darkness. Don’t miss this chance to hear from one of Mexico’s most prolific writers.
Hong Kong International Literary Festival www.festival.org.hk
HARRY GILES
Harry Josephine Giles is a Scottish poet and performer who makes art about protest, protests about art, and writes about anything. Giles’s performances include performance lecture This is not a riot and one-to-one show What We Owe. They have been featured in the SPILL National Platform, and programmed by festivals and venues including the Ovalhouse, Forest Fringe, and Sprint. They are also involved with game-making, punk band Fit to Work, and theatre.
Giles’s first poetry collection Tonguit was shortlisted for the 2014 Edward Morgan Poetry Award and the 2016 Forward Prize for Best First Collection. They recently published their second collection The Games and are undertaking a PhD at the University of Stirling in Creative Writing, with a focus on minority language poetry. Their work generally deals with the intersection of performance and politics, as exemplified by their current touring show Drone, a captivating poetry, video and sound show about technology, gender and anxiety.
Sessions Target audience: 12 – 18 Tech requirements: Laptop, projector and screen, audio, clicker, mic
Availability: 4 November Talk – Harry Josephine Giles: Art About Protests and Protesting About Art Harry Josephine Giles’s work as a poet and performer has placed them within the intersection of performance and politics, art and protest. Their poetry collection Tonguit is a moving exploration of identity, language and nationality. Join Giles for a poetry reading and discussion on how art can make a powerful statement about society.
Workshop – Spoken Word Poetry Harry Giles’s writing has touched upon both art and politics, focusing on minority language poetry. Their new poetry book The Games is a cheeky piece of work that uses disruptive language and satire to explore politics with their audience. In this interactive spoken word workshop, Giles shows us the potential of poetry performances in compelling audiences to think, feel and act.
Hong Kong International Literary Festival www.festival.org.hk
SINEAD GLEESON
Sinéad Gleeson is an Irish writer, editor and freelance broadcaster. Her essays have been published in Granta, Wanter Papers, Gorse, Elswhere: A Journal of Place, Autumn: An Anthology for the Changing Seasons and Banshee. Her short stories appear in Being Various: New th Irish Short Stories, Repeal the 8 , The Broken Spiral and Looking at the stars, while her poetry has been featured in various anthologies, including Autonomy, Washing Windows? Irish Women Write Poetry and Reading the Future. She is currently the Writer-in-Residence at University College Dublin and is working on a novel. As an editor, Gleeson has worked on the anthologies Silver Threads of Hope, The Art of the Glimpse: 100 Irish Short Stories and The Long Gaze Back: An Anthology of Irish Women Writers, which won the Best Irish Published Book at the Irish Book Awards in 2015.
Gleeson’s recent collection of essays, Constellations, explores the fierce joy and pain of being alive. Both uniquely personal and yet universal in its resonance, Gleeson discusses the entirety of life in spirited reflection, from birth to death, pregnancy to motherhood, health to sickness, first love to old age and loss.
Sessions Target audience: 16 – 18 Tech requirements: Laptop, projector and screen, audio, clicker, mic
Availability: 4 November Talk – Constellations: A Map of Stars, Metal, Love and Loss How do you tell the story of your own life, in a world that is not your own? Learn from Sinéad Gleeson, whose dazzling and thought-provoking memoir explores both the beautiful and painful aspects of life.
Hong Kong International Literary Festival www.festival.org.hk
CHESSIE HENRY
Chessie Henry was born in 1992 and grew up in Christchurch and Kaikōura. Her personal essays have been published in The Spinoff and The Wireless, and she currently works as a freelance copywriter. She first studied writing at Massey University, and went on to gain her Master’s in Creative Writing from Victoria University’s International Institute of Modern Letters. We Can Make a Life, a family memoir, is her first book, and has been shortlisted for the 2019 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.
In her memoir, Henry examines the effects of the 2011 Christchurch and 2016 Kaikoura Earthquakes on her family. In an attempt to understand the trauma that led her father to burnout, Henry unravels stories and memories from her own remarkable family history. We Can Make a Life is an extraordinary memoir about the psychological cost of heroism, home and belonging, and how a family makes a life together.
Sessions Target audience: 10 – 18 Tech requirements: Laptop, projector and screen, audio, clicker, mic
Availability: 4, 7 November Talk – Chessie Henry: How a Family Makes a Life Together Written with love and compassion, Chessie Henry’s debut memoir We Can Make a Life is an extraordinary and deeply moving tale. Join Henry as she discusses the influences behind her candid memoir, and how, although her family are often separated by cities or countries, they always find their way back into her stories.
Hong Kong International Literary Festival www.festival.org.hk
PICO IYER
Pico Iyer is the author of two novels and thirteen works of non-fiction, including three new books this year, Autumn Light and A Beginner’s Guide to Japan (about his life near Kyoto) and This Could Be Home (about Singapore). Earlier books include such long-running reader favourites as Video Night in Kathmandu, The Lady and the Monk and The Art of Stillness. Since 1982, he has also been a constant contributor to Time, The New York Times, The Financial Times, Vanity Fair and more than 250 periodicals worldwide. His four recent talks for TED have received more than 8 million views so far. A graduate of Eton, Oxford and Harvard, Iyer served in 2019 as a ferris professor of journalism at Princeton.
Iyer’s latest novel, Autumn Light: Season of Fire and Farewells is a far-reaching exploration of Japanese history and culture and a moving meditation on impermanence, mortality, and grief. In it, Iyer contemplates the theme of autumn in Japan, and the corresponding autumnal period in his life; he learns “how to hold on to the things we love even though we know that we and they are dying”.
Sessions Target audience: 12 – 18 Tech requirements: Laptop, projector and screen, audio, clicker, mic
Availability: 7 November Talk – The Search for Home: A Conversation with Pico Iyer Come and share ideas with celebrated travel writer Pico Iyer in a conversation where anything is possible: talk of travel, of writing, of the excitingly fresh possibilities—and challenges—of a world in which so many of us come from so many places. Iyer has written on subjects ranging from the Cuban revolution to Islamic mysticism, from Graham Greene to forgotten nations. His two most recent books, set in Japan, explore how we can make a home in a very foreign place.
JEONG YOU-JEONG
Hong Kong International Literary Festival www.festival.org.hk
Known as South Korea’s Stephen King, Jeong You-Jeong is a master of psychological crime and thriller fiction. Since her debut novel My Life’s Spring Camp (내 인생의 스프링캠프) won the Segye Youth Literature Competition in 2007, Jeong has published four more novels and an essay collection to wide acclaim, becoming a bestseller author with millions of books sold. Two of her novels, Shoot Me in the Heart (내 심장을 쏴라, winner of the 2009 Segye Ilbo Literary Award) and Seven Years of Darkness (7년의 밤) have been adapted into films, and a third novel, The Good Son (종의 기원) has been optioned by a film studio.
Translated by Kim Chi Young, The Good Son is also the first of Jeong’s novels to be translated into English, although her other novels have been translated into German, French, Chinese and more. Like most of Jeong’s work, The Good Son explores the inner darkness of humanity; Jeong creates a fictional study of a psychopath, documenting the twisted nature of a mother-son relationship in a subversive and chilling mystery.
Sessions Target audience: 12 – 18 Tech requirements: Laptop, projector and screen, audio, clicker, mic, Korean translator
Availability: 6 November Talk – Psychological Fiction with Jeong You-Jeong For celebrated Korean thriller writer Jeong You-Jeong, the whodunnit of a mystery is not what matters, but rather the why and aftereffects of a crime. By weaving together genre specific topics and thought-proving themes, Jeong creates riveting narratives with sinister plot twists and harrowing conclusions. This session explores Jeong’s use of narrative techniques and thematic bases for psychological exploration, taking inspiration from her recently translated novel The Good Son.
Note: sessions with Jeong will require schools to hire a Korean translator themselves
Hong Kong International Literary Festival www.festival.org.hk
THANHHA LAI
New York Times bestselling author Thanhhà Lại was born in Vietnam and became a refugee in Alabama, United States after the war ended in 1975. She is the author of Inside Out & Back Again, winner of a National Book Award and a Newbury Honor, Listen, Slowly and Butterfly Yellow. Lai lives in New York, and incorporates both her Vietnamese and American cultural backgrounds into her writing.
Lai’s recent novel, Butterfly Yellow, is a poignant coming-of-age story that redefines the search for family and home. The fluidity of Lai’s prose mimics her dual grasps of Vietnamese and English and allows her to invoke raw emotion from her audience. She weaves together themes of migration, refugee experiences, childhood and family in a remarkable and uplifting narrative.
Sessions Target audience: 12 – 18 Tech requirements: Laptop, projector and screen, audio, clicker, mic
Availability: 8 November Talk – Defining Home with Thanhha Lai Vietnamese-American author Thanhha Lai is a storytelling master. Her childhood experience as a refugee from Vietnam to Alabama shapes her poignant and masterful prose. Hear from Lai as she discusses her new novel, Butterfly Yellow, and the impact of migration and family on her definition of home.
Workshop – Creative Writing with Thanhha Lai Thanhha Lai’s debut novel Inside Out and Back Again, a winner of the National Book Award and Newbery Honor, offers a ten-year-old girl’s viewpoint on the Vietnam War, which is inspired by her harrowing childhood experience as a refugee. Lai’s writing shifts easily between verse and narrative, Vietnam and America. Learn from Lai and find your own voice.
Hong Kong International Literary Festival www.festival.org.hk
MIRIAM LANCEWOOD
Dutch-born author Miriam Lancewood lived for seven years with her husband in the New Zealand mountains, almost entirely cut off from civilization. They never stayed long in one place, but moved around like nomads, sleeping in a tent and cooking on fires while Miriam learned how to hunt with a bow and arrow and later with a rifle. They lived off hunting wild animals and gathering edible plants. For Miriam and her husband, life is about embracing insecurity and stepping into the unknown.
Now, Miriam is about to reveal her adventures, philosophy and insights from those seven years. Based off her wildly popular book Woman in the Wilderness, which is not translated into Dutch, French, German and Chinese, Miriam will discuss her awe-inspiring experience living in the wilderness with her husband, and the many lessons she learned.
Sessions Target audience: 8 – 16 Tech requirements: Laptop, projector and screen, audio, clicker, mic
Availability: 4 - 8 November Talk – Living in the Mountains with Miriam Lancewood Miriam Lancewood lived for 7 years with her husband in the forest. They slept in a tent, cooked on a fire, and Miriam learned how to hunt with a bow and arrow. Join Miriam now as she recounts her larger-than-life experiences in the wilderness, from calling goats in the forest and crossing flooded rivers to combating thunderstorms.
Talk – Living the Dream with Miriam Lancewood How can you make your dream come through? What do you need to completely step out of your old life, into a new one? Where do you find the courage to face your fears and enter the unknown? Listen to Miriam Lancewood, author of Woman in the Wilderness, who left civilization behind in 2010, and went to live with her husband in the wilderness of New Zealand.
Workshop – Living Adventures: How to Write a Good Book with Miriam Lancewood What are the secrets to a compelling story? Miriam Lancewood lived for seven years with her husband in the wilderness of New Zealand; then, her book Woman in the Wilderness became an international bestseller. Learn from Miriam on how to transform experiencing great adventures into telling great stories. Hong Kong International Literary Festival www.festival.org.hk
Workshop – Living Wild Sign up for this workshop with Miriam Lancewood, who lived for 7 years with her husband in the wilderness of New Zealand. They lived in a tent, cooked on a fire, never stayed long in one place, and they hunted and gathered their food to survive. Miriam will talk to you about realizing your dreams. What is needed to live wild, and what is needed to live in the wild?
Hong Kong International Literary Festival www.festival.org.hk
JOHN LANCHESTER
John Lanchester was born in Hamburg in 1962. He has worked as a football reporter, obituary writer, book editor, restaurant critic, and deputy editor of the London Review of Books, where he is a contributing editor. He is a regular contributor to the New Yorker. He has written four novels, The Debt to Pleasure, Mr Phillips, Fragrant Harbour, and Capital, and two works of non-fiction: Family Romance, a memoir; and Whoops!: Why everyone owes everyone and no one can pay, about the global financial crisis. His books have won the Hawthornden Prize, the Whitbread First Novel Prize, E.M Forster Award, and the Premi Llibreter, been longlisted for the Booker Prize, and been translated into twenty-five languages. He is married, has two children and lives in London.
Lanchester’s new novel The Wall is a dystopian thriller set in a bleak near-future Britain which invites comparison with Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and George Orwell’s 1984. Lanchester skillfully weaves together society’s most pressing anxieties—climate change, political polarization, rising fear—in a suspenseful and riveting story of love, trust and survival. Sessions Target audience: 14 – 18 Tech requirements: Laptop, projector and screen, audio, clicker, mic
Availability: 4 November Talk – The Wall and Our Future World John Lanchester’s novel The Wall is a bleak portrait of our future; shaped by climate change, refugee crises and Hobbesian authoritarians, Lanchester crafts a compelling narrative amidst a dystopian world. Join Lanchester as he discusses how The Wall is a terrifying possibility for our future—and how we can stop it from happening.
Hong Kong International Literary Festival www.festival.org.hk
JAMIE MARINA LAU
Jamie Marina Lau (劉劍冰) is a 22-year-old writer and musician from Melbourne. Her work can be found in Cordite, ROOKIE magazine, Voiceworks, the Art Hoe Collective and in Monash University’s 2016 anthology Futures. She is currently studying film and literature, producing music, and working on more fiction.
Lau’s debut novel Pink Mountain on Locust Island won the 2018 Melbourne Prize for Literature’s Readings Residency Award and is shortlisted for the 2019 Stella Prize, the 2019 New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards, the Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction, and the ALS Gold Medal. Hailed as unpredictable and innovative, Pink Mountain on Locust Island embraces noir and a unique prose style to consistently surprise and delight readers.
Sessions Target audience: 12 – 18 Tech requirements: Laptop, projector and screen, audio, clicker, mic
Availability: 4 - 8 November Talk – Identity, Music and Writing: A Conversation with Jamie Marina Lau Join writer and musician Jamie Marina Lau as she discusses her debut novel Pink Mountain on Locust Island, her struggles as a young female of colour in the publishing industry, and her dual loves of literature and music.
Workshop – Experimental Writing with Jamie Marina Lau Jamie Marina Lau’s Pink Mountain on Locust Island embraces a unique prose style, its chapters dissonant and fleeting to match Lau’s exploration of liminal space. Lau’s narrative is at turns electrifying and surreal, cementing her position as a provocative new voice in the writing community. Join Lau for a creative writing workshop where she will share the process behind her unconventional prose.
Hong Kong International Literary Festival www.festival.org.hk
JENNIFER 8. LEE
A former New York Times reporter, Jennifer 8. Lee is the author of The Fortune Cookie Chronicles, a New York Times bestseller about the Americanization of Chinese food, and a producer on the 2014 documentary The Search for General Tso. She serves on the boards of the Digital Public Library for America, the Pulitzer-winning, non-profit news organizations Center for Public Integrity and InsideClimate News, the Roxie Theater in San Francisco, the Nieman Foundation at Harvard, and the Asian American Writers’ Workshop. Lee is also a journalist, seed investor, and emoji activist, as well as the co-founder and CEO of Plympton, a San Francisco-based literary studio which innovates digital publishing.
As vice-chair of the Unicode Emoji Subcommittee, Lee is responsible for making recommendations relating to emoji to the Unicode Technical Committee. Her efforts have helped create the dumpling and hijab emojis, furthering cross-cultural emoji relevance within society today.
Sessions Target audience: 8 – 16 Tech requirements: Laptop, projector and screen, audio, clicker, mic
Availability: 6 - 7 November Talk – Dumplings and Hijabs: Emojis with Jennifer Lee In this interactive session, Jennifer Lee brings to life the process behind the creation of emojis, sharing her stories of the dumpling and hijab emojis.
Workshop – Emoji Spelling Bee An entertaining and modern update of the traditional spelling bee, Jennifer Lee’s Emoji Spelling Bee asks participants to use emojis to craft popular and literary phrases. Witty, entertaining and at times hilarious, your success will be determined by both your creativity and accuracy. Start spelling today!
Hong Kong International Literary Festival www.festival.org.hk
SATO MOUGHALIAN
Sato Moughalian is an award-winning flutist in New York City and Artistic Director of Perspectives Ensemble, founded in 1993 to explore and contextualize works of composers and visual artists. Since 2007, Moughalian has also traveled to Turkey, England, Israel, Palestine, and France to uncover the traces of her grandfather's life and work, has published articles, and gives talks on the genesis of Jerusalem's Armenian ceramic art.
Now, Moughalian reveals the search for her grandfather’s legacy in Feast of Ashes: The Life and Art of David Ohannessian, a compelling biography of Armenian ceramicist David Ohannessian, whose work changed the face of Jerusalem. In a sweeping epic of migration, survival and hope, the book traces the migration of Armenian ceramic art from the historic ceramics center of Kutahya in the waning years of the Ottoman Empire to its new and now enduring home in Jerusalem.
Sessions Target audience: 12 – 18 Tech requirements: Laptop, projector and screen, audio, clicker, mic
Availability: 4 - 7 November Workshop – Tile Making Feast of Ashes is Sato Moughalian’s biography of her grandfather David Ohanessian, taking audiences on an artistic journey which continues to define Armenian pottery today. Based off this biography, Moughalian will lead audiences in a creative and immersive tile-making workshop. Through hands-on experience, gain an understanding and appreciation of Armenian culture and ceramic art.
Hong Kong International Literary Festival www.festival.org.hk
MELANIE MUNUNGGURR-WILLIAMS
Melanie Mununggurr-Williams is a Djapu writer from Yirrkala in East Arnhem Land in Australia, and a proud wife and mother of two young children. She is a poet and the 2018 Australian Poetry Slam Champion for her poem I Run, becoming the first Aboriginal person to win the title. Over the past decade, Melanie has worked with families, young adults and children involved with juvenile justice and the department of children and families. More recently, she also works as a mentor for young Indigenous women in local school programs across the Northern Territory.
Mununggurr-Williams’s writing frequently focuses on themes of family, place and her identity as an Aboriginal woman. As a mother to a child with autism, she also uses her poetry to advocate for raising autism awareness. Her writing has won the 2018 Darwin Poetry Cup, and her short story Grey has been published in Anita Heiss’s Anthology Growing up Aboriginal in Australia. Her first poetry book will be published in 2020.
Sessions Target audience: 12 – 18 Tech requirements: Laptop, projector and screen, audio, clicker, mic
Availability: 8 November Talk – Mununggurr-Williams: Growing up Aboriginal in Australia Watch 2018 Australian Poetry Slam Champion Melanie Mununggurr-Williams perform her electrifying poem I Run. After her performance, Mununggurr-Williams will lead a discussion on family, location, and identity, themes essential to her writing.
Workshop – Spoken Word Poetry A Djapu writer from Australia, Melanie Mununggurr-Williams is an electrifying spoken word poet. Her performances are captivating, earning her the 2018 Darwin Poetry Cup and the 2018 Australian Slam Poetry Championship. Mununggurr-Williams will lead a workshop on spoken word techniques and encourage participants to step up and speak out. Learn and be inspired.
Hong Kong International Literary Festival www.festival.org.hk RENEE NAULT
Renee Nault is a Canadian artist, illustrator, and graphic novelist known for her vivid watercolor and ink illustrations. Born in Vancouver and later moving to Vancouver, Nault was inspired by the weightlessness and bright colors of underwater landscapes. Her artwork is suffused with cryptic symbolism, dark humor, and the repeating patterns and shapes of Japanese Ukiyo-e prints. Nault’s work has appeared in books, magazines, newspapers and advertising around the world; she is the creator of the horror webcomic Witchling, and recently completed and released a graphic novel adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s dystopian classic, The Handmaid’s Tale.
Nault’s adaption offers stark and vivid artwork, juxtaposed to the grim reality of Atwood’s Gilead. Each of the graphic novel’s 240 pages displays a full hand-painted watercolor illustration, emphasizing the unique symbolism of color in The Handmaid’s Tale. Nault uses both overt and subtle visual cues to bring Atwood’s words to life, shifting between the literal and abstract.
Sessions Target audience: 14 – 18 Tech requirements: Laptop, projector and screen, audio, clicker, mic
Availability: 4 November Talk – Artwork and Adaptation with Renee Nault Can graphic novels be considered complex literature? Join artist Renee Nault as she discusses her process of adapting The Handmaid’s Tale into a graphic novel, and its implications in literature and real-world events.
Workshop – Graphic Novel Construction A picture is worth a thousand words— each page of a graphic novel must be carefully considered for both content and layout and every word has to make an impact on its reader. Renee Nault has successfully adapted Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale into a brilliant graphic novel, with its riveting images and bone-chilling text captivating numerous readers. Learn from Nault on constructing masterful graphic novels.
Hong Kong International Literary Festival www.festival.org.hk
MATT OTTLEY
Matt Ottley is an award-winning Australian picture book writer and illustrator. He spent his childhood in Papua New Guinea and has travelled extensively throughout Australia and the world. As one of Australia’s most popular children’s authors and illustrators, Ottley has published 25 picture books, which have been translated into several different languages around the world, including What Faust Saw, an international bestseller.
As a multi-modal artist, Ottley frequently combines his illustrative and written work with music. His book and musical work for young adults, Requiem for a Beast was awarded the Children’s Book Council of Australia’s Picture Book of the Year in 2008, and the Queensland Premier’s Award for Young Adult Literature in the same year. Ottley is currently working on two large-scale orchestral projects which will also have visual and literature components. In this session, Ottley invites his audience to experience the multiple ways literature can be enjoyed: through words, illustration and music.
Sessions Target audience: 6 - 13 Tech requirements: Laptop, projector and screen, audio, clicker, mic
Availability: 8 November Talk – Parachute: A Multi-Modal Reading Experience Matt Ottley performing a multi-modal reading of Parachute, an award-winning picture book illustrated by Ottley and authored by Danny Parker. Ottley will combine self-composed music for a string quintet with the rich illustrations and delightful narrative of Parachute. See how Matt magically creates the sound of picture books with live musicians.
Hong Kong International Literary Festival www.festival.org.hk
MATTHEW POLLY
Matthew Polly is an American journalist and bestselling author. Polly was the first American accepted as a disciple at the Shaolin Temple in Henan China, where he spent two years studying Kungfu. In addition to his memoirs American Shaolin, about his time at Shaolin Temple and Tapped Out, which discusses his experience as an MMA fighter, Polly’s writing has appeared in The Washington Post, Esquire, Slate, Playboy, and The Nation.
His most recent work, Bruce Lee: A Life, has been described as the most authoritative portrayal of the martial arts and film legend, and a definitive account of Lee’s personal story. Now, Polly will share the process behind his comprehensive biography, packed with critical insight and ground-breaking information, which he spent over seven years compiling.
Sessions Target audience: 12 – 18 Tech requirements: Laptop, projector and screen, audio, clicker, mic
Availability: 4 - 8 November Talk – Finding the Truth in Bruce Lee: A Life Martial arts icon. Action film hero. Hollywood superstar. Join Matthew Polly as he discusses the experiential and investigative journalism behind his ground-breaking biography of Kungfu legend Bruce Lee.
Hong Kong International Literary Festival www.festival.org.hk
CHEN QIUFAN
Chen Qiufan, also known as Stanley Chan, is a Chinese science fiction writer, columnist and scriptwriter. Born in 1981, Chen published his first story at the age of sixteen and has been consistently hailed as one of China’s leading modern science fiction writers since then. Chen’s short stories have won Taiwan’s Dragon Fantasy Award and China’s Galaxy and Nebula Awards, as well as the Best Short Form Award for the 2012 Science Fiction and Fantasy Translation Awards for his short story The Fish of Lijiang. His works have been published in Fantasy & Science Fiction, MIT Technology Review, Invisible Planets, Interzone, and Lightspeed, as well as influential Chinese science fiction magazine Science Fiction World.
Originally published in 2013 in Chinese, Chen’s multi-award-winning debut novel The Waste Tide was recently released in English, translated by Hugo Award-winner Ken Liu, and is being translated to Spanish, German, Russian, Japanese and more. The Waste Tide tackles metaphysical ideas, alienation and the advent of technology, combining realism and allegory to present the duality of humans and machines.
Sessions Target audience: 14 – 18 Tech requirements: Laptop, projector and screen, audio, clicker, mic
Availability: 4, 6 - 7 November Talk – Posthumanism: The Future of Science Fiction Set in a near future sci-fi setting in China, revolutionary sci-fi writer Chen Qiufan’s novel Waste Tide deals with issues of electronic waste and posthumanism. Chen will speak about technology, speculative fiction and humanity’s future in relation to his novel.
Talk – Algorithmic Writing with Chen Qiufan Having previously worked for Google, Baidu, and a VR/Mocap leading startup Noitom Technology for over ten years, leader sci-fi writer Chen Qiufan will discuss AI assistant writing and using algorithms to compose his latest collection The Algorithms for Life.
Hong Kong International Literary Festival www.festival.org.hk
TOMOKA SHIBASAKI
In her recently translated novella Spring Garden (originally Haru No Niwa and translated by Polly Barton), celebrated Japanese novelist Tomoka Shibasaki offers an insightful slice-of-life meditation of memory and thwarted hope. Shibasaki has been nominated for the Akutagawa Prize for up and coming works of pure fiction four times, winning the title with Spring Garden. Her novels Kyō no dekigoto (A Day on the Planet) and Nete mo samete mo (Whether Awake or Asleep) have both been adapted into films. Nete mo samete mo also won the Noma Literary New Face Prize and was showcased at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival as Asako I & II.
Spring Garden deals with themes common to contemporary literature—alienation, loneliness, urbanization—yet with a deft nuance and subtlety elevating Shibasaki’s writing from her peers’. The quiet melancholy of Shibasaki’s protagonist Taro is reflected in his empty neighbourhood, psychological darkness and physical abandonment expertly mirroring one another. Shibasaki masterfully weaves an evolution of change and social isolation, prompting her readers to contemplate the footfalls of their own lives.
Sessions Target audience: 14 – 18 Tech requirements: Laptop, projector and screen, audio, clicker, mic, Japanese translator
Availability: 8 November Talk – Spring Garden: A Reflection of Memory and Thwarted Hope Join acclaimed Japanese novelist Tomoka Shibasaki as she delves into themes of loneliness, memory and change which drive her novella Spring Garden, recently translated into English by Polly Barton.
Note: sessions with Shibasaki will require schools to hire a Japanese translator themselves
Hong Kong International Literary Festival www.festival.org.hk
DANA THOMAS
Dana Thomas is an American culture and fashion journalist, and the author of New York Times bestseller Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster, and investigative double biography Gods and Kings: The Rise and Fall of Alexander McQueen and John Galliano, Thomas has served for 15 years as the European cultural and fashion correspondent for Newsweek in Paris, where she is based. She is also a regular contributor to the New York Times Style section, and has written for the New York Magazine, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, WSJ, Financial Times, Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Architectural Digest, and Elle Décor. Thomas is a contributing editor for T: The New York Times Style Magazine and was the European editor of Conde Nast Portfolio.
Thomas’s most recent book Fashionopolis is an investigation into the damage wrought by “fast fashion” and its long-term consequences, from environmental destruction to inhumane labour practices. This session, Thomas offers an urgent look at the clothing industry, and the grassroots, high-tech, international movement fighting to reform it.
Sessions Target audience: 14 – 18 Tech requirements: Laptop, projector and screen, audio, clicker, mic
Availability: 4 November Talk – What Should I Wear? Investigative Journalism in the Fashion Industry What should I wear? Join bestselling journalist and author Dana Thomas as she reveals the creative designers and companies reforming the fashion industry. Thomas’s new book Fashionopolis explores the damage wrought by the colossal clothing industry, and the visionaries around the world fighting to reform it.
Hong Kong International Literary Festival www.festival.org.hk
LINDSAY VARTY
Lindsay Varty is an English and Macanese freelance journalist and rugby sevens player raised in Hong Kong. From a young age, when her parents would take her and her brother to discover the real Hong Kong and its people, she was fascinated by the city’s culture and history. Inspired by her childhood and Hong Kong’s dramatic and rapid cultural shift, Varty decided to write a book on the city’s twilight industries, bridging the gap between Chinese culture and Western perspectives.
Sunset Survivors, a coffee table-style hardcover, features photos (by photographer Gary Jones) and interviews of Hong Kong’s dying traditional livelihoods. In the city’s modern, fast-paced and highly digital world, unique trades including bamboo birdcage-makers, letter writers and fortune tellers, struggle to stay relevant. Sunset Survivors is a celebration of Hong Kong’s traditional cultural identity, a tribute to history and guide to evolution.
Varty now gives talks and runs local walking tours which focus on the characters and industries in Sunset Survivors. She loves the duality of writing and rugby, bridging the gap between two opposite worlds.
Sessions Target audience: 8 – 18 Tech requirements: Laptop, projector and screen, audio, clicker, mic
Availability: 4 - 6, 8 November Talk – Exploring Hong Kong with Lindsay Varty Sunset Survivors is a tribute to Hong Kong, a celebration of its roots and a guide to its evolution. In this session, journalist and rugby player Lindsay Varty will discuss the conception and execution of Sunset Survivors, and the theme of Hong Kong’s unique cultural identity, showing how we can see “extraordinary” rather than just “ordinary”. Varty will talk about the traditional tradesmen and tradeswomen of Hong Kong, and the factors contributing to their industries’ demise.
Hong Kong International Literary Festival www.festival.org.hk
NURY VITTACHI Hong Kong-based author and journalist Nury Vittachi has published daily and weekly columns for a variety of newspapers in Asia, including the South China Morning Post, Hong Kong Free Press and Reader’s Digest. He has also written the popular children’s novel series The Feng Shui Detective, and several other non-fiction and fiction books for children. Vittachi helped found the Asia Literary Review, Hong Kong International Literary Festival and the Man Asian Literary Prize. His gossip columns for the South China Morning Post were praised for their handling of cross-cultural differences and humorous tone, Vittachi’s writing deftly navigating more critical opinions.
Vittachi’s recent book, The First of Everything, is a science book for kids. Guaranteed to make you a hit (or annoyance) at parties, The First of Everything is filled with fascinating facts (and brilliant illustrations from Step Cheung) about the world’s inventions, which you can repeat to everyone you know. Join Vittachi for a conversation on writing for children, science and The First of Everything.
Sessions Target audience: 8 – 18 Tech requirements: Laptop, projector and screen, audio, clicker, mic
Availability: 4 - 8 November Talk – The First of Everything: Nury Vittachi Celebrated Hong Kong-based journalist and author Nury Vittachi is back! Vittachi’s new book, The First of Everything, is guaranteed to make you a hit (or annoyance) at parties. A science book for kids, The First of Everything is filled with fascinating facts (and brilliant illustrations from Step Cheung) about the world’s inventions, which you can repeat to everyone you know. Join Vittachi for a conversation on writing for children, science and The First of Everything.
Workshop – Journalism with Nury Vittachi Co-founder of HKILF Nury Vittachi does not mince words or shy away from hard-hitting topics. His columns for the South China Morning Post and regular contributions to the Hong Kong Free Press, Reader’s Digest and more have earned him both praise and writs. From culture to politics to history, Vittachi puts together wittily crafted opinions with the evidence to back up his positions. Join Vittachi for a workshop on journalism and the importance of the freedom of the press.
Hong Kong International Literary Festival www.festival.org.hk
PATRICK WINN
Patrick Winn is a journalist, author and producer. Based in Bangkok, he is the Asia correspondent for The World, an NPR radio show, where he focuses on the world of organized crime, and the individuals caught up in it. He has also worked for the BBC, and his writing and short documentaries have been featured on NBC News, The Atlantic, NPR and more. Winn has won the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, a National Press Club Award, Amnesty International’s Human Rights Press Awards and more. He is the co-creator and associate producer of the documentary film Hope Frozen.
Based on his work in Bangkok, Winn’s debut non-fiction book Hello, Shadowlands: Inside the Meth Fiefdoms, Rebel Hideouts and Bomb-Scarred Party Towns of Southeast Asia takes readers into the clandestine web of Southeast Asia’s organized crime scene. A critical and insightful revelation, Winn explores the staggering human cost of modern global capitalism’s dark side.
Sessions Target audience: 14 - 18 Tech requirements: Laptop, projector and screen, audio, clicker, mic
Availability: 4 November Talk – Organized Crime in Southeast Asia with Patrick Winn Patrick Winn’s debut work Hello, Shadowlands deals with Southeast Asia’s organized crime scene. Based on his work as a journalist in Bangkok, Winn explores the lives of the men and women entangled in Asia’s drug trade, corruption, trafficking and more. Critical and insightful, join Winn today as he discusses the current events Southeast Asia doesn’t want you to know.
Hong Kong International Literary Festival www.festival.org.hk
JENNIFER WONG
Born and raised in Hong Kong, Jennifer Wong is a British poet, freelance writer, researcher and translator. She has published two poetry collections, Summer Cicadas and On Goldfish, with a third being released next year. Her newest poetry pamphlet, Diary of a Miu Miu Salesgirl, will be released this September. Her poetry has also appeared in journals including World Literature Today, Aesthetica, Cha, Voice & Verse and New Writer, and in anthologies including Wretched Strangers: Transnational Poetry, Project Boast, Eight Hong Kong Poets and more. Her translations have also been featured in Poetry Review, Modern Poetry in Translation and Pathlight. Wong was the runner-up in the 2018 Bi’an Writers Awards and received the 2014 Young Artist Award for the Literary Arts from the Hong Kong Arts Development Council.
Wong studied English at Oxford, received an MA in creative writing at the University of East Anglia, and a creative writing PhD from Oxford Brookes University. She has taught creative writing at Citylit London, Oxford Brookes and Poetry School. Her works frequently deal with themes of femininity, multilingualism, societal classes and Hong Kong culture.
Sessions Target audience: 12 - 18 Tech requirements: Laptop, projector and screen, audio, clicker, mic
Availability: 4 - 8 November Talk – Jennifer Wong: The Female Self In an increasingly globalized age, how can women capture and realize their creative potential? Join poet Jennifer Wong for a conversation on womanhood and identity; Wong will explore how modern Chinese women negotiate traditional values and Western ideas, juggling the intergenerational expectations of being daughters, mothers, career women, writers and artists.
Talk – Jennifer Wong: Multilingualism in a Global Age What can Hong Kong offer for artistic expression? Join poet Jennifer Wong as she discusses the experience of growing up in a multilingual environment, and how the dual forces of Chinese and English have influenced her work.
Talk – Jennifer Wong: Class and Society Hong Kong International Literary Festival www.festival.org.hk What do wealth, poverty and capitalist societies mean, and how are they reflected in our contemporary literature? Join poet Jennifer Wong as she discusses writing about the working class, and how to give different classes voice and presence. Based off her own writing as well as the work of contemporary writers such as Tammy Ho, Agnes Lam, and Eddie Tay, Wong will share the tools to dissect society.
Workshop – History and Writing with Jennifer Wong Learn from writer Jennifer Wong, as she teaches students how to write about history and use history in poetry, two skills she developed in her own writing.
Workshop – Writing Skills for Creative Writers Based off her course at Citylit in London, writer Jennifer Wong will teach students how to actively understand and apply writing styles, voices, and forms to narratives. Using examples from literary texts and creative writing prompts, Wong will engage students in an exciting and educational workshop.
Hong Kong International Literary Festival www.festival.org.hk
SHELLEY WOOD
Shelley Wood is a Canadian novelist, journalist and editor. Her fiction, creative non-fiction, columns and travel-writing have appeared in a range of Canadian and international publications, including Globe and Mail, TIME, The Danforth Review and more. For her short stories, Wood has won the Fall 2015 Tethered by Letters fiction contest, the 2016 Frank McCourt prize for Creative Nonfiction, the Winter 2016-17 Nonfiction prize from Causeway Lit, and the 2017 Fiction prize from Freefall Magazine. Wood divides her time between her roles as Editorial Director at the Cardiovascular Research Foundation and Managing Editor at the cardiology news website TCTMD in New York City and her home in Kelowna, Canada. The Quintland Sisters, which debuted at the top of the Canadian bestsellers list, is her first novel.
The Quintland Sisters is an impeccably researched historical novel about the Dionne Quintuplets, the first surviving set of quintuplets whose subsequent celebrity status came at the steep cost of their childhood and chance at a normal life. Through a seamless blend of fact and fiction, interspersing narrative with journal entries, letters and historical articles, Wood reveals the heartbreaking story of five sisters.
Sessions Target audience: 14 – 18 Tech requirements: Laptop, projector and screen, audio, clicker, mic
Availability: 4 November Talk – The Quintland Sisters: Fact and Fiction Join bestselling author Shelley Wood as she reads from her debut novel The Quintland Sisters, a beautiful, tragic mystery about the Dionne Quintuplets. After, she will reveal part of the riveting and heartbreaking history of the sisters.
Workshop – Historical and Epistolary Fiction with Shelley Wood Learn from author Shelley Wood how to craft historical fiction that is both accurate and entertaining. Using creative exercises and literary examples, Wood will teach students how to intersperse narrative with fact, inspired by her bestselling epistolary novel The Quintland Sisters.
Hong Kong International Literary Festival www.festival.org.hk
KATE YOUNG
Kate Young is an award-winning food writer and cook. As a dedicated bookworm, Young’s reading inspires her in the kitchen, which led to the creation of her first book, The Little Library Cookbook. With more than 100 recipes inspired by beloved works of fiction, The Little Library Cookbook is a masterful blend of recipe and memory, was shortlisted for Fortnum & Mason's debut food book award and won a World Gourmand food writing award.
Young has written for The Guardian, Sainsbury’s Magazine and The Pool. After mastering the treacle tart from Harry Potter, she started blogging about her creations and was named Blogger of the Year in 2017 by the Guild of Food Writers. Young’s second book, The Little Library Year, will be released in October 2019. Described as a perfect mix of comfort food and comfort reading, The Little Library Year covers a full twelve months in Young’s kitchen.
Sessions Target audience: 8 – 18 Tech requirements: Laptop, projector and screen, audio, clicker, mic
Availability: 4 - 5 November Talk – The Little Library Year: Food Writing with Kate Young Join award-winning food writer Kate Young as she talks about the literary inspirations behind her beloved recipes, from recreating the treacle tart from Harry Potter to her recent book The Little Library Year. Beautifully photographed throughout, The Little Library Year is full of delicious seasonal recipes, menus and reading recommendations. Session attendees are advised to eat beforehand.
Hong Kong International Literary Festival www.festival.org.hk
MARKUS ZUSAK
Markus Zusak is the author of six books, including the international bestseller, The Book Thief, which spent more than a decade on the New York Times bestseller list, was adapted to film in 2013, and is translated into more than forty languages – establishing Zusak as one of the most successful authors to come out of Australia.
Zusak’s other books, The Underdog, Fighting Ruben Wolfe, When Dogs Cry (also titled Getting the Girl), The Messenger (or I am the Messenger) and Bridge of Clay have also been awarded numerous honours ranging from literary prizes to readers choice awards to prizes voted on by booksellers. In 2014, Zusak won the Margaret A. Edwards Award in 2014 for his contributions to young-adult literature published in the United States. His most recent novel, Bridge of Clay deals with family, honor, greatness and loss.
Markus Zusak grew up in Sydney, Australia, and still lives there with his wife and two children.
Sessions Target audience: 12 – 18 Tech requirements: Laptop, projector and screen, audio, clicker, mic
Availability: 8 November Talk – Writing with Markus Zusak Join Markus Zusak as he shares his wide-ranging novels, from his early Wolfe Brothers trilogy, through I am the Messenger, The Book Thief, and his most recent work, Bridge of Clay. The Session will be followed by a Q&A for students on all things books and writing.
Hong Kong International Literary Festival www.festival.org.hk
Author 4/11 5/11 6/11 7/11 8/11 John Boyne ✔ Shelly Bryant ✔ ✔ Moe Clark ✔ ✔ Philip Cracknell ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ Benjamin Dix ✔ ✔ Kit Fan ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ Cristina Rivera Garza ✔ ✔ Harry Giles ✔ Sinead Gleeson ✔ Chessie Henry ✔ ✔ Pico Iyer ✔ Jeong You-Jeong * ✔ Thanhha Lai ✔ Miriam Lancewood ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ John Lanchester ✔ Jamie Marina Lau ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ Jennifer 8 Lee ✔ ✔ Sato Moughalian ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ Melanie Mununggurr-Williams ✔ Renee Nault ✔ Matt Ottley ✔ Matthew Polly ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ Chen Qiufan ✔ ✔ ✔ Tomoka Shibasaki* ✔ Dana Thomas ✔ Lindsay Varty ✔ ✔ ✔ Nury Vittachi ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ Patrick Winn ✔ Jennifer Wong ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ Shelley Wood ✔ Kate Young ✔ ✔ Markus Zusak ✔ ✔ = author available on that date *translators required (school must hire themselves)
Hong Kong International Literary Festival www.festival.org.hk
Booking Form
Please send us the completed form via email at [email protected]. You will receive confirmation of your booking within 5 working days of receipt of this booking form.
Please note:
• We prioritize schools who show significant interest and offer larger audience numbers for our authors. • Tickets are priced at HK$50 per student for talks and HK$100 per student for workshops. • The Festival reserves the right to change the programme, including the sessions for which booking has been confirmed. Once your booking is confirmed, payment should be received within 2 weeks or your reserved seats may be released.
Name and title of contact person:
Name of school:
School address:
Email: Contact number: Fax: Event name Preferred date and Author No. of Age of Total cost time students students (HKD)
Total
______Signature and chop Date
1 Hong Kong International Literary Festival www.festival.org.hk
Hong Kong International Literary Festival 2019 Application for School Subsidy Scheme
All government and aided schools are eligible for the School Subsidy Scheme. The scheme serves to encourage the participation of government and aided schools committed to promoting English and nurturing a love of reading in our Schools Programme. The Festival reserves the right of final decision for the amount of subsidy.
School name: ______District: ______
School type: 1. □ Secondary School □ Primary School 2. □ Aided □ Government □ Direct Subsidy
Contact person: ______Position: ______
Email: ______Phone: ______
1. How did you hear about the Festival and our Schools Programme? □ Festival website □ Friends/Teachers □ Promotional materials
□ Newspapers □ E-newsletters □ Other (please specify) ______
2. At your school, how many subjects use English as a medium of instruction?
____ out of a total of ____
3. Is English a foreign language for most of your students? □ Yes □ No
4. What is the approximate pass rate of your students in English language exams (e.g. HKDSE, TSA, GCSE etc.)?
______
5. Does your school organise or participate in any activities/programmes that promote the learning and use of English (e.g. book clubs, creative writing clubs etc.)? □ Yes □ No
If yes, please elaborate: ______
Thank you for showing interest in our Schools Programme!
Please send us the completed form via email at [email protected]. The result of this application will be advised together with the booking status.
2 Hong Kong International Literary Festival www.festival.org.hk