Poets are well represented at this year’s festival, hailing from China, Hong Kong, Lithuania, Canada, Japan, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and more. But we start with Richard Blanco, the highest profiled poet in our lineup, who rocketed to fame in 2013 when he read a poem to 40 million people watching live at Barack Obama’s Second Inauguration. (more…)

Xue Xinran, who writes under the pen name Xinran, found fame in China between 1989 and 1997 as host of the popular call-in radio program “Words on the Night Breeze.” She has since written several books that has won her an international following. Her first book, The Good Women of China, was an international bestseller upon publication in 2002. She followed up with Sky Burial, a true account of a Han woman’s journey and experiences in Tibet. Her latest book, reviewed below by Laurie O’Donnell, is Buy Me the Sky: The Remarkable Truth of China’s One-Child Generations. (more…)

A Yi (real name Ai Guozhu) is “one of the most gifted Chinese authors in recent times,” according to Nobel-nominated poet Bei Dao. His star has been rising in the global literary scene as well: he’s been published in Granta and The Guardian, and A Perfect Crime, his first novel translated into English, was published in June 2015. He is the author of two other novels in Chinese, Now, What Shall I Do Next? and Where Is Spring, and the short story collections Grey Stories and The Bird Saw Me. Before settling down at age 32 to write fiction, A Yi worked as a police officer, secretary, and editor, with a brief stint as editor-in-chief of the edgy literary magazine Chutzpah. (more…)

By the numbers, this year’s Bookworm Literary Festival is our largest ever, featuring more than 180 writers, thinkers, and performers hailing from over 30 countries. From March 11 to 27, they will converge across three Bookworm cities (Beijing, Chengdu, Suzhou) plus Ningbo and Shanghai to participate in 300-some events, including book talks, panel discussions, performances, and workshops. As always, there will be children’s events, comedy, screenings, and a strong bilingual element. (more…)

We’re still a few days away from getting our hands on the printed program, but those with Internet connections can download an advance copy of the 2016 Bookworm Literary Festival brochure. It’s 96 pages cover to cover, which makes it our largest ever. (more…)

Physical tickets for the 2016 Bookworm Literary Festival go on sale tomorrow — that’s Wednesday, February 24 — at start of business day (9 am).

You can also, of course, continue to purchase tickets from online (and pick them up from The Bookworm any time). Either way, check out our program, and let us know if you have any questions.

China’s had an eventful year-and-a-half, and to take a closer look, the Bookworm Literary Festival is presenting a series of panel discussions — 13 in total — that cover this country’s environment, civil society, economy, foreign policy, arts and culture, religion, tech, and more. Our goal is to promote discourse about contemporary Chinese society, culminating in an event that asks: what does China’s “perfect future” look like? (more…)

It’s here: the 2016 Bookworm Literary Festival schedule of events. A limited number of tickets will be made available in an online pre-sale that begins Friday, February 19 at 2 pm. (more…)

We just got our first shipment of books by Bookworm Literary Festival authors, and by goodness we shouldn’t be this excited. Check out all these goodies: (more…)

The Bookworm Literary Festival (BLF) is one of the largest bilingual cultural events in China and among the most prestigious literary festivals in the world. Can you believe we’re celebrating our 10th anniversary — an entire decade! — this March? (more…)