Hong Kong Book Fair Events

The Hong Kong Book Fair begins tomorrow. You can find the complete list of events here in English and Chinese, but Bruce Humes has narrowed down the topics of interest, which I re-post here:

July 18

尋找華人推理小說的線索

Speaker: 紀蔚然 (Taiwanese writer on suspense novels)

人性文化制度

Speaker: 資中筠  (Zi Zhongyun, Chinese scholar and translator)

武俠小說與武俠電影雷鋒還是雷人?

Speaker: 温瑞安 (Malaysian-born wuxia author Wen Jui on martial arts novels and cinema)

 

July 19

什麼是文學的經驗?

Speaker: 格非 (Novelist Ge Fei: What is literary experience? )

父親與民國

Speaker: 白先勇 (Pai Hsien-yung: My Father and the Republic of China)

 

July 20

烽火大地永恆之旅

Speaker: 張翠容 (Cheung Chui-yung, HK travel writer)

內地與香港的文化衝突與融和   

Speaker: 馬立誠 (Ma Licheng: HK and the MainlandCultural Conflict and Synthesis)

 

July 21  

Talks on and Multilingual Reading of Leung Ping-kwan’s Poetry

Recitations by西野由希子, Sonia Au(待定), and 也斯, and talk by the always-controversial Professor Wolfgang Kubin

音已改──小說家的世界觀 

Speaker: 黎紫書  (Lin Baolin, female writer born in Malaysia, on the distance between authors and their homelands)

女作家的香港煙霞

Speaker: 張曼娟 (Taiwanese novelist Chang Man Chuan)

為什麼總要問創作人靈感從哪來?

Speaker: 彭浩翔  (HK author and director: Why question the source of an artist’s inspiration?)

 

July 22

如今的文學與寫作

Speaker: 馮唐 (Feng Tang, Beijing novelist published in French and in Hong Kong (不二), on contemporary literature and writing)

生活與閱讀 

Speaker: 黃春明 (Huang Chunming, Taiwanese short story writer, and author of The Taste of Apples that lampooned the fascination of the island’s modern youth with their former occupiers, the Japanese)

愛是修養自己的旅程

Speaker: 素黑 (Hong Kong female author and columnist)

 

July 23

廢物人渣垃圾城市書寫的邊緣視野

Speaker: 馬家輝 (Hong Kong journalist Ma Ka-fai on scum, rubbish and urban writing)

如秋水長天 

Speaker: 慕容雪村  (Murong Xuecun, controversial Chinese novelist, and author of Absurdities of China’s Censorship System

報導綠色

Speaker: 陳曉蕾 (Chen Xiaolei on “green” reportage)

我們這個時代的怕和愛談中國電視劇

Speaker: 毛尖 (Mao Jian: Chinese TV Dramas—Fear and Love in our Era)

Caging a Monster

Xi Chuan discussed the state of publishing in China and read his co-translations of Norwegian poet Olav H. Hauge with Harald Bøckman during Chinese Literature Week at Norway’s Litteraturehuset–with “around 4,000 attendees at 30-some events,” according to Paper Republic‘s Eric Abrahamsen–but what seems to have been the most newsworthy event was the talk by Murong Xuecun 慕容雪村 titled “Caging a Monster” 把野兽关进笼子 (translated by Jane Weizhen Pan & Martin Merz). In light of Xi Chuan’s notion of his poetics as based on contemporary China’s oxymoronism, I cite the following quotation from Murong’s speech:

My country is capable of launching a satellite into space but not of building a safe bridge across a river. My country is capable of building palatial government offices yet condemns children to substandard schoolhouses. My country provides millions of luxury cars to government official yet few safe school buses for children.

这个国家可以把卫星送入太空,却造不好一座桥。这个国家可以把政府大楼造成金碧辉煌的宫殿,却让孩子们坐在摇摇欲倒的危房之中。这个国家有无数豪华的行政座驾,却没有一辆坚固的校车。

Chinese Week at Norway’s Litteraturhuset

As I mentioned yesterday, Xi Chuan flew from Hongkong to Norway, where he’s participating in Chinese Literature week at the House of Literature along with Wang Hui 汪晖, Murong Xuecun 慕容雪村, Ma Jian 马建, Leslie T. Chang, Rebecca Karl, Michael Dutton, Yiyun Li 李翊雲, Hong Ying 虹影, Mian Mian 棉棉, Xu Zechen 徐则臣, Han Song 韩松, Lan Lan 蓝蓝, Annie Baobei 安妮宝贝, Cheng Yong Xin 程永新, Zou Zou 走走, and Paper Republic‘s Eric Abrahamsen. Click here for the full schedule; the following is the list of events involving Xi Chuan (though I’m afraid one looks like it’s already in the past):

MONDAY THE 14TH OF NOVEMBER
7.30pm: Putting a Modern Face on the Classics
Discussion with Xi Chuan and Cheng Yongxin

Traces of this classic literature are also still to be found in today’s contemporary Chinese literature. What is the relationship between the classics and today’s writers, and do the latter use them in their own literature? Xi Chuan and Cheng Yongxin discuss their relationship to classic literature.
Language: Norwegian (with translation from Chinese)

THURSDAY 17TH OF NOVEMBER
8pm: Chinese Contemporary Poetry
Glimpse of the World’s Oldest Poetry Tradition

Stage conversations with Lan Lan and Xi Chuan
From early times, poetry played a far greater role in China than it did in the West. Even under the Zhou dynasty, more than a thousand years before the Western Christian Era, important political statements were often phrased as verses of famous poems. What does contemporary poetry look like in a country with such a long poetic tradition? Harald Bøckman talk with two poets about their works and the current trends in modern Chinese poetry.
Language: Norwegian (with translation from Chinese)

FRIDAY THE 18TH OF NOVEMBER
10am-2pm: From China to the World and Back: Seminar on translation
Introduction by Anna Gustafsson Chen, Eric AbrahamsenXi Chuan, Harald Bøckman, Lars Devold and others
Translating between Chinese and European languages can prove to be a difficult task when the written languages present such different linguistic structures. In Europe, Chinese literature is often translated from earlier English translations, a practice which can lead to mistakes and inaccuracies. What are the challenges one faces while translating and interpreting between Indo-European languages and Chinese? We meet up with translators who tell us about their work.
Language: English

SATURDAY THE 19TH OF NOVEMBER
8pm: An Evening of Celebration!
Readings by Yiyun Li, Lan Lan, Murong Xuecun, Cheng Yongxin, Li Er, Xu Zechen, Mian Mian, Han Song and Xi Chuan
Welcome to our evening of celebration with eleven Chinese writers, book readings and a concert. We close this Chinese literature week at the House of Literature with literary and cultural experiences. Concert with Chinese folk musician Xiaogang Zeng and Rolf-Erik Nystrøm. Host: Anna Bache-Wiig
Language: Norwegian (with translation from Chinese)