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Shanghai International Literary Festival
The Shanghai International Literary Festival is an annual event held each March in China's largest city, Shanghai. 21st century's new literary event The Shanghai International Literary Festival, started in 2003, began as a sister festival to the Hong Kong International Literary Festival. Hosted at M on the Bund and the Glamour Bar, the Festival grew from small beginnings to China’s leading, and largest, English-language literary event. At its peak (2006-2013), the Festival extended over three weekends with a roster of over 50 international and local authors and an audience of more than 4,000. With the closing of the Glamour Bar in 201the Festival has been reduced in size and duration, running for 10 days and featuring 25 authors. Its programs include winners of the world's leading literary prizes, including the Man Booker, National Book Award for Fiction, the Miles Franklin award and others. The Festival was started by Michelle Garnaut, Jenny Laing Peach and Tina Kanagaratnam in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and borders fourteen countries by land, the most of any country in the world, tied with Russia. Covering an area of approximately , it is the world's third largest country by total land area. The country consists of 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four municipalities, and two Special Administrative Regions (Hong Kong and Macau). The national capital is Beijing, and the most populous city and financial center is Shanghai. Modern Chinese trace their origins to a cradle of civilization in the fertile basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. The semi-legendary Xia dynasty in the 21st century BCE and the well-attested Shang and Zhou dynasties developed a bureaucratic political system to serve hereditary monarchies, or dyna ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jan Morris
(Catharine) Jan MorrisJan Morris, Paul Clements, University of Wales Press, 2008, p. 7 (born James Humphry Morris; 2 October 192620 November 2020) was a Welsh historian, author and travel writer. She was known particularly for the ''Pax Britannica'' trilogy (1968–1978), a history of the British Empire, and for portraits of cities, including Oxford, Venice, Trieste, Hong Kong and New York City. She published under her birth name, James, until 1972, when she had gender reassignment surgery after transitioning from male to female. As James Morris, she was a member of the 1953 British Mount Everest expedition, which made the first ascent of the mountain. She was the only journalist to accompany the expedition, climbing with the team to a camp at 22,000 feet, and using a prearranged code to send news of the successful ascent, which was announced in ''The Times'' on the day of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation (2 June 1953). Background Morris was born in Clevedon, Somerset, Engl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Literary Festivals In China
Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include oral literature, much of which has been transcribed. Literature is a method of recording, preserving, and transmitting knowledge and entertainment, and can also have a social, psychological, spiritual, or political role. Literature, as an art form, can also include works in various non-fiction genres, such as biography, diaries, memoir, letters, and the essay. Within its broad definition, literature includes non-fictional books, articles or other printed information on a particular subject.''OED'' Etymologically, the term derives from Latin ''literatura/litteratura'' "learning, a writing, grammar," originally "writing formed with letters," from ''litera/littera'' "letter". In spite of this, the term has also been applied to spoken or sun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kunal Basu
''Kunal Basu'' (''Bengali:'' কুনাল বসু) is an Indian author of English fiction who has written five novels – ''The Opium Clerk'' (2001), ''The Miniaturist'' (2003), ''Racists'' (2006), ''The Yellow Emperor's Cure'' (2011) ''Kalkatta'' (2015) and ''Sarojini’s Mother'' (2020). The title story of his only collection of short stories, ''The Japanese Wife'' (2008), was made into a film by the Indian filmmaker Aparna Sen. Basu has also written four Bengali novels – ''Rabi-Shankar'' (2016), ''Bairer Dorja'' (2017), ''Tejoswini O Shabnam'' (2018) and ''Angel''(2020) Biography Kunal Basu was born in Kolkata to Sunil Kumar Basu (a litterateur and publisher and one of the early members of the Communist Party of India) and Chabi Basu (an author and actress). Born to Communist parents, he was brought up on books and enriching conversations at home that was visited by a galaxy of prominent men and women of the day. He studied Mechanical Engineering at Jadavpur University ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Bradley (Australian Writer)
James Bradley (born 1967) is an Australian novelist and critic. Born in Adelaide, South Australia, he trained as a lawyer before becoming a writer. Bradley's novels, which have been published internationally, explore both past and future. His books include seven novels and a book of poetry. He has also edited two anthologies, ''Blur'', a collection of writing by young Australian writers, and ''The Penguin Book of the Ocean''. Bradley also writes as a critic, with reviews and articles appearing regularly in Australian newspapers and magazines, and blogs at City of Tongues. In 2012 he won the Pascall Prize for Criticism and was named Australian Critic of the Year. He lives in Sydney with his partner, the novelist Mardi McConnochie. Bibliography Bradley's novels explore both past and future. The first, '' Wrack'' explores questions about the nature of history and the imaginary origins of Australia, drawing together the story of the semi-mythical " Mahogany Ship", a Portugu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hari Kunzru
Hari Mohan Nath Kunzru (born 1969) is a British novelist and journalist. He is the author of the novels '' The Impressionist'', '' Transmission'', ''My Revolutions'', ''Gods Without Men'', ''White Tears''David Robinson"Interview: Hari Kunzru, author" scotsman.com, 29 July 2011 and ''Red Pill''. His work has been translated into twenty languages. Personal life Kunzru was born in London to an Indian Kashmiri Pandit father and a British mother. He grew up in Essex and educated at Bancroft's School. He studied English at Wadham College, Oxford, then gained an MA in Philosophy and Literature from University of Warwick. In his teens, Kunzru decided that he did not believe in formal religion or God, and is "opposed to how religion is used to police people." Kunzru is married to novelist Katie Kitamura, and the couple have two children. Kunzru is fascinated by UFOs and as a youngster often imagined a close-encounter type experience with them. Career From 1995 to 1997 he worked on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Simon Winchester
Simon Winchester (born 28 September 1944) is a British-American author and journalist. In his career at ''The Guardian'' newspaper, Winchester covered numerous significant events, including Bloody Sunday and the Watergate Scandal. Winchester has written or contributed to more than a dozen nonfiction books, has written one novel, and has contributed to several travel magazines, among them '' Condé Nast Traveler'', ''Smithsonian Magazine'', and ''National Geographic''. Early life and education Born in London, Winchester attended several boarding schools in Dorset, including Hardye's School. He spent a year hitchhiking around the United States, then in 1963 went up to St Catherine's College, Oxford, to study geology. He graduated in 1966, and found work with Falconbridge of Africa, a Canadian mining company. His first assignment was to work as a field geologist searching for copper deposits in Uganda. Career While on assignment in Uganda, Winchester happened upon a copy of Jame ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anna Funder
Anna Funder (born 1966) is an Australian author. She is the author of '' Stasiland'' and '' All That I Am'' and the novella ''The Girl With the Dogs''. Life Funder went to primary school in Melbourne and Paris; she attended Star of the Sea College and graduated as Dux in 1983. She studied at the University of Melbourne and the Freie Universität of Berlin, and holds a BA (Hons) and LLB (Hons). She also has an MA from the University of Melbourne and a Doctor of Creative Arts from the University of Technology Sydney. Funder worked for the Australian Government as an international lawyer in human rights, constitutional law and treaty negotiation, before turning to writing full-time in the late 1990s. Anna Funder's writing has received numerous accolades and awards. Her essays, feature articles and columns have appeared in numerous publications, such as ''The Guardian'', ''The Sunday Times'', ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', ''Best Australian Essays'' and ''The Monthly''. She has t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Man (writer)
John Man (1512–1569) was an English churchman, college head, and a diplomat. Life He was born at Lacock or Winterbourne Stoke, in Wiltshire. He was educated at Winchester College from 1523, and New College, Oxford, where he graduated B.A. in 1533, and M.A. in 1537, and became a Fellow. Under suspicion of heresy, he was expelled; but became the principal of White Hall, Oxford in 1547. In 1562 he was appointed Warden of Merton College, Oxford, by the influence of Archbishop Matthew Parker. He became Dean of Gloucester in 1566. In 1567 he was sent by Elizabeth I as her ambassador to Madrid; the mission was unsuccessful and he was recalled in 1568. Dr. John Man was a Protestant cleric, who called the pope in public a canting little monk. Some sources maintain he was expelled by Philip II.Colin Martin, Geoffrey ParkerThe Spanish ArmadaS.61 Works He published ''Common places of Christian Religion'' (1563), based on Wolfgang Musculus. Further reading *Gary M. Bell, "John Man: The L ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christopher Kremmer
Christopher Kremmer (born 1958) is an Australian journalist and author. He is known for his book-length fiction and nonfiction, short stories, and journalism. Over the past thirty years, he has written several books that explore different regions and cultures around the world, including the Bamboo Palace and Inhaling the Mahatma. As of 2023, he is a senior lecturer at the University of New South Wales. Background Kremmer was born in 1958 in Sydney, Australia. He arrived in Hanoi, Vietnam in 1993, while working as a correspondent for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. His two-year long stay there prompted him to write about the neighboring country of Laos. Career As a journalist, Kremmer has covered a range of subjects, including war, politics, and social change. He is the author of several books, including Stalking the Elephant Kings: In Search of Laos, The Carpet Wars: From Kabul to Baghdad: A Ten-Year Journey along Ancient Trade Routes, Bamboo Palace, Inhaling the Mah ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ma Jian (writer)
Ma Jian (born 18 August 1953) is a Chinese-born British writer. Biography Ma was born in Qingdao, a city in Shandong Province on China's Yellow Sea coast, on 18 August 1953. As a child, he was the pupil of a painter who had been persecuted as a Rightist. After his school education was cut short by the Cultural Revolution, he studied by himself, copying out a Chinese dictionary word by word. At fifteen, he joined a propaganda arts troupe, and was later assigned a job as a watchmender's apprentice. For a few years he worked in a petrochemical plant near Beijing, then in 1979, moved to the capital and became a photojournalist for a magazine published by the All China Federation of Trade Unions. During this time, he joined the 'underground' No Name art group, the Yuanmingyuan poetry group, and the April photographers' group. He held clandestine exhibitions of his paintings in his one-room shack in Nanxiao Lane, which became a meeting point for dissident artists and writers of Be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gore Vidal
Eugene Luther Gore Vidal (; born Eugene Louis Vidal, October 3, 1925 – July 31, 2012) was an American writer and public intellectual known for his epigrammatic wit, erudition, and patrician manner. Vidal was bisexual, and in his novels and essays interrogated the social and cultural sexual norms he perceived as driving American life. Beyond literature, Vidal was heavily involved in politics. He twice sought office—unsuccessfully—as a Democratic Party candidate, first in 1960 to the U.S. House of Representatives (for New York), and later in 1982 to the U.S. Senate (for California). A grandson of a U.S. Senator, Vidal was born into an upper-class political family. As a political commentator and essayist, Vidal's primary focus was the history and society of the United States, especially how a militaristic foreign policy reduced the country to a decadent empire. His political and cultural essays were published in ''The Nation'', the ''New Statesman'', the ''New York Revie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
