Click on each day to see festival events and details

• Thursday 28th February
• Tuesday 4th March
• Wednesday 5th March
• Thursday 6th March
• Saturday 8th March
• Sunday 9th March
• Monday 10th March
• Wednesday 12th March
• Thursday 13th March
• Friday March 14th
• Tuesday 18th March
• Wednesday 19th March
• Thursday 20th March
• Friday 21st March
• Saturday 22nd March
• Sunday 23rd March
• Monday 24th March
• Wednesday 26th March

FESTIVAL OPENING

THE TRUTH IS IN THERE SOMEWHERE

Patrick Gale

Moderated by Paddy Booz

Thursday 28th February

7.30pm

How better to open the first-ever Bookworm Chengdu International Literary Festival than by discussing truth, and its myriad interpretations? Patrick Gale’s powerful new novel, Notes from an Exhibition, tells the story of an unconventional woman in an unconventional way. Patrick will be reading extracts from it, describing its genesis, and discussing how he finds the best way of conveying the emotional truth of a story can involve approaching it from multiple angles. Tonight, Bookworm audiences are presented with a rare opportunity to hear from this hugely talented writer, celebrated for his riveting, and profoundly affecting stories of family relationships surviving under adversity and societal pressure.

Critically-acclaimed writer Patrick Gale, author of 14 novels, lives in Cornwall. His father was the prison governor of Camp Hill Prison on the Isle of Wight when Gale was born, and he was brought up in and around prisons. Following university Patrick worked a range of jobs while singing as a member of the London Philharmonic Choir. He wrote his first novel, The Aerodynamics of Pork, while working as a waiter in an all-night restaurant. He has also written a number of short stories and novellas in addition to a non-fiction book about the American novelist Armistead Maupin, with whom he has a close friendship. He is also a book reviewer for The Daily Telegraph. Notes from an Exhibition has been recently shortlisted for the Richard and Judy Best Read of the Year Award.

Ticket Price: 30rmb, which includes a glass of wine or soft drink

Salome’s Salon

Music Open Mic Night

Thursday 28th February 9pm

To musically welcome in the festival: An Open Mic Music night for Chengdu's musicians to let off a little steam, hosted by the multi-talented Melissa Carroll.

Admission Free

ZOO DESIGNS: TRENDS AND OPPORTUNITIES

Jon Coe

Tuesday 4th March

Moderated by Andrew Scanlon

7.30pm

Zoological parks are evolving from popular menageries to become major contributors to wildlife conservation and education. This evolution has proceeded on multiple fronts which can be identified as trends. Where are your local institutions in terms of these trends, and where would you like them to be? This perspective will be presented informally in this talk: “Zoo Design: Trends and Opportunities”.

Jon Coe has over forty years experience in planning, landscape and exhibit design. His Harvard University master’s thesis on animal behavior in zoological park design was just the beginning of his specialised interest in habitats. He has published numerous articles on zoo exhibit design and theory while designing projects in the US, Australia, Canada, India, Africa, Indonesia, China and the Middle East. Several of these exhibits have been awarded prestigious American Zoo and Aquarium Association Exhibit Achievement awards.

Admission Free

MAKER'S DOZEN

A “box launch” by Allen Sutterfield

Wednesday 5th March

7.30pm

Allen Sutterfield is a Canadian writer, artist and teacher. For many years he has been at work on an epic cycle of texts entitled City of Words, a compilation of both poetry and prose works numbering over 5,000 texts, the essential theme of which is the writer’s struggle with both language and life in the daily engagement of both. Tonight he will introduce Maker’s Dozen, a collection of writing that, it’s fair to say, is somewhat unusually packaged.

Admission Free

ADVENTURING THROUGH THE WILDS OF ASIA

Jun Angeles

Thursday 6th March

7.30pm

Travelling for days up and down rivers, avoiding leeches and eating porcupine for supper are all part of the package when Jun Angeles is on the job. But then, so are extreme temperatures, oxygen tanks, camping and everything that makes up a good Indiana Jones style movie. Join Jun Angeles, Vice President – Exploration of Central China Goldfields plc, as he tells tales of adventuring through some of Asia's most remote locations. Mr. Angeles, from the Philippines, has travelled throughout Asia for over 30 years as a geologist. He is currently based in Chengdu, working on several mineral projects in China.

Hosted by the British Chamber of Commerce South West China

Admission Free

BOOK LAUNCH – WITH THE HELP OF CHANCE?

Denis Lejeune

Saturday 8th March

5pm

Do you believe in chance? Is it a question of fate, or evidence that something more complex lies behind? How can we explain coincidences? For the last 150 years, physicists, philosophers, artists, biologists, thinkers, statisticians and psychologists have tried to answer these nagging questions.

And how do today’s Western societies deal with chance? Looking at the last decade, numerous evolutions show that we increasingly perceive the unpredictable as the head of a new kind of “axis of evil”. Genetics, DNA-files, the ubiquitous CCTV, the “all is curable” motto: these examples all point to the fact that the modern individual is at odds with chance. Why? Is our thirst for control and mastery in danger of isolating us from no less than reality itself? Tonight, Denis Lejeune will examine these fascinating questions in detail.

Admission Free

PORTRAIT OF CHENGDU YOUTH

Jack Mata

Documentary screening and photography exhibit

Sunday 9th March

5pm

This event will feature a screening of the documentary China: A Will to Rise, which was produced by sixteen American photography students as part of a documentary course at Brooks Institute of Photography. The students travelled throughout Sichuan province and Chongqing municipality documenting life in a rapidly changing culture. It will be introduced by Jack Mata, a photographer/filmmaker who was part of the documentary team. The event will also showcase Jack’s personal photographic work. Her prints will be auctioned off at the event, with all proceeds going to a local children’s charity.

Admission Free

IN CONVERSATION WITH QIU XIAOLONG

Moderated by Ingrid Booz Morejohn

Monday 10th March

7.30pm

Award-winning author Qiu Xiaolong was brought up in Shanghai and has lived in the United States since 1989. One of his books, Death of a Red Heroine, was voted among the top five political novels of all time by the Wall Street Journal. He will discuss his life as a best-selling writer, and his inspiration for his Inspector Chen series of mystery novels.

Qiu Xiaolong is the author of Death of a Red Heroine, A Loyal Character Dancer, When Red Is Black, A Case of Two Cities, and his latest installment, Red Mandarin Dress. He is also the author of two books of poetry translations, Treasury of Chinese Love Poems and Evoking T'ang, and a poetry collection, Lines Around China. He has a PhD in Comparative Literature from Washington University.

Ticket Price: 30rmb, which includes a glass of wine or soft drink

IN CONVERSATION WITH JOHN MAN

Moderated by Gavin Crombie

Wednesday 12th March

7.30pm

John Man has given the fascinating characters of Genghis Khan, Kublai Khan and Attila the Hun new life in the popular imagination via his bestselling biographies, following up in recent years with accounts of both the Terracotta Army, and his latest book The Great Wall. He is also the author of The Atlas of the Year 1000; Alpha Beta (on the roots of the Roman alphabet) and The Gutenberg Revolution.

John is a British historian and writer. After training in journalism with Reuters, he became European Editor of Time-Life Books. In the mid-1970s, he turned to writing full-time, with occasional forays into film, TV and radio. A must for Asian history enthusiasts, don’t miss him tonight in conversation.

Ticket Price: 30rmb, which includes a glass of wine or soft drink

A SENSE OF PLACE

Rob Gifford and Justin Hill in dialogue

Moderated by Ethan Goldings

Thursday 13th March

7.30pm

From John Steinbeck’s depression era dustbowls, to the sultry harems of the Arabian Nights, a sense of place in any kind of writing, be it fiction, memoir, travelogue or poetry, envelops the reader in the physical and emotional world their characters inhabit. Rob Gifford and Justin Hill share and debate their ideas on how to create setting – and atmosphere - in their work.

Rob Gifford has been traveling back and forth between China, the US and the UK for the last twenty years. From 1999 to 2005, he was based in Beijing as China correspondent for America’s National Public Radio network. He has travelled widely throughout China and across Asia, reporting for the BBC, and for NPR. China Road: A Journey into the Future of a Rising Power, is Rob’s fascinating account of his journey across China, from Shanghai to the Khazak border, which was published in 2007. Developed from a radio series for NPR, it took him on a 4800km journey from the Bund in Shanghai to China's border with Kazakhstan. Documenting his interviews and chance encounters with Chinese citizens from across an amazingly varied spectrum including peasant farmers, Daoist monks, radio presenters, Uigyhr separatists, Christians and evangelical Amway sales reps, China Road paints a striking portrait of contemporary China.

Justin Hill is a novelist and poet originally from the UK and now resident in Hong Kong. His first novel, The Drink and Dream Teahouse, won the 2003 Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize and a Betty Trask Award, and was translated into a dozen languages. His subsequent novel, Passing Under Heaven, gained him the 2005 Somerset Maugham Award, with his third book, Ciao Asmara, a factual account of his time in Eritrea short-listed for the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award. Justin’s writing reflects his long term interests in travel and more specifically in China, having spent many years in rural China and Africa as a volunteer with the VSO.

Justin Hill is brought to The Bookworm International Literary Festival with the support of Harrow International School Beijing.

Ticket Price: 30rmb, which includes a glass of wine or soft drink

WRITING ACROSS AUSTRALIA AND CHINA:

CONNECTION AND DISCONNECTION, POETRY AND WORDPLAY

Nicholas Jose and Ouyang Yu

Moderated By James Stuart

Friday 14th March

7.30pm

Nicholas Jose and Ouyang Yu discuss how experiencing the different cultures of Australia and China has influenced and developed their writing.

Nicholas Jose is the author of seven novels, including Original Face, and Avenue of Eternal Peace, two collections of short stories, a memoir, and Chinese Whispers, Cultural Essays. Much of his work has been translated into Chinese. He has travelled extensively in Europe and Asia, and from 1986 to 1990 worked in Shanghai and Beijing, including as Cultural Counsellor at the Australian Embassy. He has held the Chair of Creative Writing at the University of Adelaide since 2005.

Ouyang Yu moved to Australia in early 1991 and has since published 42 books of poetry, fiction, non-fiction, literary translation and criticism in English and Chinese languages. He also edits Australia’s only Chinese literary journal, Otherland. His noted books include his award-winning novel, The Eastern Slope Chronicle, his collection of poetry, Songs of the Last Chinese Poet , his translations in Chinese, The Female Eunuch and The Man Who Loved Children, and his book of criticism, Chinese in Australian Fiction: 1888-1988 (forthcoming in the USA, 2008). He now writes and teaches part-time in China and Australia. His latest publication is a book of creative non-fiction, On the Smell of An Oily Rag: Speaking English, Thinking Chinese and Living Australia.

Nicholas Jose and Ouyang Yu are brought to you by Australian Writers Week.

Ticket Price: 30rmb, which includes a glass of wine or soft drink

POETRY SLAM!

with Miles Merrill

Friday 14th March

9pm

Are you ready for Miles Merrill? Australia's most arresting performance poet drops his rhymes on Chengdu. A spoken-word tour de force, a performance poet who combines elements of theatre, hip-hop, slam poetry and music -- flinging words in a rapid fire onslaught of versified emotion. Born in Chicago, Miles Merrill is the son of a Black Panther father and a mother whose family tree dates back to British-American Colonialism. He is now resident in Australia.

Ticket Price: 30rmb, which includes a glass of wine or soft drink

The Bookworm’s WRITER-IN-RESIDENCE

James Stuart

Moderated by Allen Sutterfield

Tuesday 18th March

7.30pm

Introducing The Chengdu Bookworm’s first-ever resident writer, James Stuart. James will discuss his residency and introduce his work as a poet, language-based new media artist and editor. Reading/screening examples of his work, he will discuss how writing functions as a material form, the concept of inter-disciplinary and collaborative writing practices, and the possibilities for working with language in the 21st century. In doing so he will reveal a number of his sources and influences from the worlds of literature, book-art, visual art and music.

James Stuart is a Sydney-based poet, editor/curator and new media artist, with a particular focus on inter-disciplinary language-based projects. His current writing projects include a manuscript of poems exploring the Australian landscape through non-denominational myth structures. In 2007 he edited, designed and published an e-anthology of Australian text-based art and intermedia writing, The Material Poem and completed the interactive new-media poem, The Homeless Gods, which creates a fictional city with its own mythological grounding and where the fallen gods of Mesopotamia reside. As a poet, James has won a number of national awards and fellowships, including the 2000 Harri Jones Memorial Prize for poetry and, in 2002, the Australian Young Adult Poetry Fellowship.

Brought to you by Asialink, Australia Council for the Arts and Arts NSW.

Admission Free

A CELEBRATION OF BA JIN

Hosted By Elyse Ribbons

*Notice!- We regret to inform you that this event - A Celebration of Ba jin

has been Canceled

Wednesday 19th March

Legendary Chengdu writer Ba Jin (1903-2005) helped describe and define modern China's awakening and upheaval early in the 20th century. He established himself decades ago as one of China's greatest modern writers and the author of several influential pre-revolutionary novels. His major trilogy (Family, 1933, Spring, 1938, and Autumn, 1940) attacked the traditional family system, and was immensely popular with the younger generation. He won several literary awards, including the Dante International Prize and the Fukuoka Special Asian Culture Prize. Come and hear more about the life and work of Chengdu’s famous son.

POETRY OPEN MIC PARTY

Wednesday 19th March

8.30pm

Hosted by Allen Sutterfield

The floor is open! A night for all types of poets, comedians, and musicians to come together and share their material in an open fun space. Featuring performances from the members of Allen’s creative writing crew at The Bookworm, plus a reading by Australian poetess Della Marina who will introduce her work, Fields of Snow. Come and join in.

Admission Free

IN CONVERSATION WITH Brian Keenan

Moderated by Gavin Crombie

Thursday 20th March

7.30pm

Brian Keenan, a teacher at the American University of Beirut, was kidnapped by Islamic Jihad in April 1986. After several months in isolation he was moved to a cell shared with British journalist John McCarthy. Brian was eventually released on August 24, 1990.

An Evil Cradling is an autobiographical book by Keenan about his five years as a hostage in Beirut. It was the 1991 winner of the Irish Times Literature Prize for Non-fiction. Brian is also the author of Between Extremes, Four Quarters of Light: An Alaskan Journey, and Turlough.

Don't miss this opportunity to hear Brian's story, and how his experiences have shaped him as a writer.

Ticket Price: 30rmb, which includes a glass of wine or soft drink

***PLEASE NOTE***

Germans in Tibet with Paddy Booz scheduled for Thursday March 20th has been rescheduled to Wednesday March 26th, 7:30 pm. We apologise for any inconvenience caused by these changes.

LETHAL ENGLISH – a stageplay

*Notice!- We regret to inform you that this event - Lethal English - a stage play

has been Canceled

(if you have purchased tickets please contact Daisy for a full refund)

Presented by Cheeky Monkey Theatre

Friday 21st March

A rare opportunity to enjoy a night at the theatre in Chengdu. Created by Elyse Ribbons, Cheeky Monkey Theater is at the forefront of the booming China performance arts scene, producing original works based on life in contemporary China.

Taking theater to a new level, "Lethal English" is an action packed film-noir murder mystery inspired by dime novels, Hollywood-style police dramas and crime-scene comic books. The story is about an English teacher in China who sticks her nose into other peoples’ business and finds her quiet life spiraling out of control in a case involving police corruption, corporate espionage and murder.

Written and directed by Elyse Ribbons, who received critical acclaim for her last piece I Heart Beijing, this theatrical performance takes the audience in a whole new direction of action adventure thrills. This multi-media play includes a soundtrack by local and international bands, as well as comic-book backdrops created by Middle Kingdom Studios.

Note: While it’s not recommended that young children attend this performance, teenagers and adults will love it. A truly unique theatrical experience, and one not to be missed!

Ticket price 100rmb, includes a glass of wine or soft drink

BEIJING Portrait of a City

A Book launch

Saturday 22nd March

7.30pm

Tonight, we host the Chengdu launch of The Bookworm’s very own new book, BEIJING Portrait of a City, a captivating collection of stories, essays, poetry and reminiscence by leading China authors, storytellers and academics, about a city they know from the inside.

Compiled by Alex Pearson and Lucy Cavender, it features writers such as Peter Hessler, Ma Jian, Tim Clissold, Zhu Wen and Rob Gifford to name a few. The book is illustrated with forty black and white photographs of the contributors and their city. All of the writers are published authors and experts in their own field, and they are further united by the fact they have all presented their published work in The Bookworm. Introduced by Peter Goff, the book’s editor.

Admission Free

Sunday 23rd March

7.30pm

IN CONVERSATION WITH HARI KUNZRU

Moderated by Kate Griffin

Tonight award-winning British novelist and journalist Hari Kunzru will chat books, styles, influences and new projects.

Hari has received numerous awards for his writing. These include The Observer Young Travel Writer of the Year, a Betty Trask award and Somerset Maugham award (for his first novel, The Impressionist) and has been named one of twenty Best Young British Novelists by Granta. Hari is also the author of the short story collection Noise and the 2007 novel, Transmission, named one of the New York Times' notable books of the year. His latest novel is My Revolutions. He is former music editor of Wallpaper magazine and contributing editor to Mute, the culture and technology magazine. He now sits on the Executive Council of the UK chapter of writers’ organization PEN and lives in London.

Kate Griffin has worked for Arts Council England since 2001. Her focus is on international literature and translation.

Brought to you by Penguin and Arts Council England.

Ticket Price: 30rmb, which includes a glass of wine or soft drink

WRITING SURGERY

With Becky Swift

Monday 24th March

2pm-6pm

Literary agent Becky Swift, founder of The Literary Consultancy (TLC), invites writers to pre-submit their work for her consideration, and then receive feedback on how to take their manuscript to the next level. TLC’s aim is to provide developing writers with honest, detailed, feedback from a skilled editor who is on hand to answer any queries you may have at any stage of the editorial process.

Note: Work should be pre-submitted to peter@chinabookworm.com before March 10.

GETTING PUBLISHED

Becky Swift and Hari Kunzru

Moderated by Kate Griffin

Monday 24th March

7.30pm

After weeks of discussing authors and books, we close the festival with a look at how you too could become a successful published author.

Becky Swift has helped many writers get published over the years. She will discuss publishing in the United Kingdom, and present the work of The Literary Consultancy. She will be joined on the panel by Hari Kunzru, who received one of the highest advances in publishing history for his first novel, The Impressionist. He will talk about his experiences of trying to get published, and what happens when you do.

Brought to you by Penguin and Arts Council England.

GERMANS IN TIBET:

The Ernst Schafer Expedition of 1938–1939

Paddy Booz

Wednesday 26th March

7.30pm

In 1938, a young German biologist named Ernst Schafer led an expedition of scientists to Central Tibet. The scientific achievements of this journey were significant. In addition, the team recorded Tibetan life and culture with a level of detail previously unachieved by other travellers. Specifically, the team members used their lightweight Leica cameras to produce some 20,000 photographic negatives. These images, lying dormant for nearly 70 years, have now come to light from the German Federal Archives in Koblenz. A book entitled: "Tibet in 1938-1939: Photographs from the Ernst Schafer Expedition to Tibet: edited by Isrun Engelhard; Serindia Publications, 2007", has given this forgotten piece of Tibetan drama a central place once again. Complicating the story are accusations of Nazi influence among the scientists, and questions about the goals and accomplishments of the expedition. Tibet scholar Paddy Booz will try to unravel the strands of truth and fiction in this fascinating true-life talk.

Admission Free