The Shanghai Literary
Festival, opening Saturday at the Glamour Bar, should appeal to anyone who has
opened a book. The two-week international event will feature luminaries from all
genres, from the novel to history, poetry to cookery, screenwriting to travel
writing, writes Douglas Williams.
Once upon a time ... four years ago, actually, a restaurateur, Michelle
Garnaut, staged the first Shanghai Literary Festival at M on the Bund. What was
then a fairly modest ensemble of writers and assorted others has since blossomed
into a major international event attracting literary types from far and wide.
This year's festival is the biggest and best yet with bigger-name writers and
more of them. And it all takes place in the new and improved Glamour Bar. It
runs through March 25 with 12 sessions.
As writers go, they simply don't get bigger than Gore Vidal. The learned man
of letters will be in conversation with Bob Carr Saturday at 6pm. Read his
February 27 interview with this paper at www.shanghaidaily.com.
From poetry to screenwriting, travel writing to cookery, adult to kids' fare
and in English, French, Mandarin and even German, there's a session to appeal to
anyone who has ever read a book.
Garnaut, who founded the festival in association with the Man Hong Kong
International Literary Festival, says: "We've come a long way from a single
weekend and a handful of writers (and audiences) in 2004, but the heart of the
festival remains the same: bringing an international feast of writers, their
books and the ideas they generate to Shanghai."
Alice Reid, a drama and English teacher at a Shanghai international school,
is excited about the festival.
"As potential information sources multiply with every passing season, the
value of the book grows. It is often now the one definitive way of finding
something out. As such, the book has never been so relevant. It's good to see
this festival here in Shanghai celebrating the book," she says.
Born
in the United States to Chinese parents, Tan is the author of five novels that
made it onto The New York Times bestseller list; several have won awards. The
San Franciscan's work has been translated into 35 languages.
Tan's father was a Baptist minister, her mother is a Shanghainese. Tan grew
up in California but was schooled in Switzerland.
Her 1989 novel "The Joy Luck Club" was a great success both as book and film.
It deals with cross-generational conflicts among Chinese-Americans. Her latest
novel "Saving Fish from Drowning" (2005) is different, telling of a disastrous
trip to Myanmar by a bunch of dysfunctional American tourists. It is by turns
hilarious, touching, astute and wise.
March 24, 12pm
Keiran Desai
Winner of last year's prestigious Booker Prize for her second novel
"Inheritance of Loss," Desai is one of the brightest young talents in the
literary world.
Her debut novel "Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard" (1998) was acclaimed by
Salman Rushdie and others. Desai's mother Anita was short-listed for the Booker
Prize on three occasions, but it was Desai junior who would win with her epic
transcontinental story of love, globalization, terrorism and inequalities.
Born in New Delhi, India, Desai spent part of her childhood in the United
Kingdom before moving to the US. She now divides her time between America and
India.
March 15, 6pm
Wang Xiaoli and Katherine Thompson
Award-winning playwright Thomson will talk about theater and script writing
from an Asia-Pacific perspective. Her play "Harbor" won the 2005 New South Wales
Premier's award. She has written 13 major theater productions, four films and
many TV series.
She will be joined by Beijing-based playwright Wang whose play "In the Bag"
is the first contemporary Chinese play to be performed in the UK.
March 10, 12pm
Yang Erche Namu
Yang's life reads like a modern-day fairytale. Leaving
her Yunnan Province minority tribe, the matrilineal Moso, she walked for days
before taking a hard-seater train all the way to Shanghai.
She studied at the Conservatory of Music, developed a successful singing and
modeling career, then became a prolific writer. Yang will discuss her latest
book, "Being Born Beautiful is Not the Same as Being Beautiful."
March 11, 6pm
Dai Sijie
The novelist left China in 1984 for Paris where he has lived ever since. His
2000 novel "Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress" recounts his experiences
in the mid-1960s and won critical acclaim. His 2003 follow up, "Mr Muo's
Traveling Couch," was less warmly received.
March 18, 4pm (in French, no translation)
Jan Morris
Historian and travel writer Morris' career has spanned continents, wars and
genders. Morris, now over 80, began life as a he. The geographical pinnacle of
her career was probably accompanying the first expedition to conquer Everest in
1953.
Morris was a British spy in World War II. She reported on the Suez Crisis and
the Israel-Egypt War for The Guardian newspaper and received a CBE (Commander of
the Order of the British Empire) in 1999.
She will be joined by award-winning journalist and writer Simon Winchester.
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