Gah, sorry, this is happening 3pm on Tuesday, not 7pm! Sorry about the confusion…

Our apologies if the lights have seemed to dim around here recently; rest assured it is not due to mere sloth on our part—on the contrary! Well, maybe there was a little sloth this summer, but since then it has been go, go, go, mostly organizing literary events for the Get It Louder art festival. Get It Louder's been going for a few years, but up until now it's mostly focused on art, design, film, and other frivolous art forms—only in 2010 have they seen the light, and added a literary dimension. The festival goes from September 18th to early October in Beijing, then mid-October to early November in Shanghai. (A third station in Guangzhou was cancelled because the Asian Games will be held there this December; it seems city officials cannot walk and chew gum at the same time.)

I'll give heads-ups here as events approach. The first one takes place next Tuesday evening (the 21st) at 3pm, at the Sanlitun SOHO in Beijing (the pavilion in the plaza). The title is "Exposure Anxiety", and features Li Jingze (head editor of People's Literature magazine) and writer Han Dong discussing the project of Chinese culture and literature "Going Out", and the general air of anxiety that is creating within China.

The "anxiety" might end up more literal than I'd intended. Li Jingze is an über-representative of the literary establishment—over the past several decades he has found and promoted many writers who enjoy a reputation today—while Han Dong has gone from being very vehemently anti-establishment (he was a member of the "rupture" movement), to being uneasily taken under its wing, and I don't think it sits well with him. They're both pretty relaxed guys, but there is a lot of tension between artists and the establishment when it comes to "Going Out" (ironic double entendre there!) and there's a potential for snappishness. Could be fun!

All events are going to be filmed and will eventually make their way online, for those of you who aren't in town. One good thing about this whole festival-running thing, otherwise a nightmare for the organizationally-challenged, is that it's been a great excuse to get in touch with a bunch of new authors…