Hong Kong Book Fair (Jul 21-27): Advance Peek at List of Speakers

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China Publishing News has obtained a partial list of confirmed speakers/panelists for this year’s “Famous Author Seminar Series” sponsored by the 2010 Hong Kong Book Fair. As of June 5, this information was not available elsewhere on the web.

One of the highlights of Hong Kong’s cultural life is the way it attracts critics of Chinese society who—for obvious reasons—are rarely featured at similar events in either Beijing or Taipei. True to form, the Hong Kong Book Fair lineup includes Zhang Taihe (章詒和 ), documenter of the Chinese Communist Party’s ferocious anti-rightest campaigns, and author of The Last Nobles ; Han Han (韓寒), a race car driver and China’s most famous blogger and (arguably) social critic; and Lan Bozhou (藍博洲 ), author of The White Terror about the Kuomintang’s crackdown in the wake of the 1951 2/28 Incident, and the novel Song of the Covered Wagon (幌馬車之歌) that Hou Hsiao-Hsien filmed as Good Men, Good Women.

The world of culture and art magazines will be represented by Feng Jicai (馮驥才), chief editor of Free Forum of Literature (文学自由谈) and Artist (艺术家), and Perry Lam (林沛理 ), chief editor of Muse (瞄). A journalist working out of Germany, émigré authoress Chen Yuhui (陳玉慧), penned Mazu’s Bodyguards (海神家族), a novel recounting a Taiwanese woman’s search for her roots that Chen recently adapted for the stage in Taiwan.

Bringing a bit of variety to the party will be musicologist Zhou Guangzhen (周光蓁), ecologist-novelist Liu Kexiang (劉克襄) and real-estate-mogul-turned philanthropist Pan Shiyi (潘石屹).

For information on specific seminar topics, speakers and time/venues, check out the 2010 Hong Kong Book Fair site later in June when such details will gradually be uploaded.