Bookworm festival opens with 'Obama's poet' in Beijing
Updated: 2016-03-16 08:16
By Mei Jia(China Daily)
|
|||||||||
A Yi is one of the highlighted authors at the opening night of the Bookworm festival in Beijing. |
The poet was invited to the 10th Bookworm Literary Festival on its opening night on Friday as one of the main draws to "give a taste" of what the festival is going to offer, according to festival director Peter Goff.
As a privately funded literary festival, Goff says the purpose of the festival is to "provide a platform for the promotion of great literature and the free and positive exchange of ideas".
Also present on the opening night were BBC broadcaster Bidisha, a reporter on asylum-seekers, who shared her experiences, and Australian award-winning writer Robert Drewe, who talked of stories he had written as a reporter in the 1970s and the experience of visiting China at the time.
Chinese writer A Yi, 40, won loud applause on the opening night as he detailed humorously the price he paid for writing and his status after being "abducted by writing".
Before turning a full-time author eight years ago, he was many things-a police officer, secretary and magazine editor. But all he ever dreamed of was to become a writer.
A Yi has published novels and collections of short stories, including the popular A Perfect Crime, which was published in English in 2015.
This year, the Bookworm festival features more than 180 writers and speakers from more than 30 countries, and is presenting 300 events in Beijing, Chengdu and Suzhou through March 27.
- Blue diamond up for auction at Sotheby's
- Apple submits final argument before court hearing on terrorist's phone
- Cuba, US to restore direct mail links
- Kerry to travel to Russia, meet Putin on Syria next week
- Putin says Russians to start withdrawing from Syria, as peace talks resume
- Merkel says Sunday's state elections 'make her party think'
- Largest blue diamond to appear at auction
- Journalists from around the world at Li's news conference
- Google's AlphaGo defeats Go grandmaster
- Emperor's seal set for auction in Hong Kong
- Scenery of blooming cherry and tea garden in Fujian
- Infographics: All you need to know about Premier's press conference
- Now and then photos of Shanghai Jiaotong University
- Post-90s quits his job to make traditional paper umbrellas
Most Viewed
Editor's Picks
Anti-graft campaign targets poverty relief |
Cherry blossom signal arrival of spring |
In pictures: Destroying fake and shoddy products |
China's southernmost city to plant 500,000 trees |
Cavers make rare finds in Guangxi expedition |
Cutting hair for Longtaitou Festival |
Today's Top News
What ends Jeb Bush's White House hopes
Investigation for Nicolas's campaign
Will US-ASEAN meeting be good for region?
Accentuate the positive in Sino-US relations
Dangerous games on peninsula will have no winner
National Art Museum showing 400 puppets in new exhibition
Finest Chinese porcelains expected to fetch over $28 million
Monkey portraits by Chinese ink painting masters
US Weekly
Geared to go |
The place to be |