Hong Kong Book Fair in early years, China

Hong Kong Book Fair, as a significant cultural event in the Asia-Pacific region, has become a sign of people’s thirst for knowledge and appetite for a good story, has become a not-to-be-missed summer event for the public and for the industry. By showcase and exhibiting books, printed matter, stationery, printing, compact discs and other multimedia publishing. Hong Kong Book Fair striving to promote local reading culture. Apart from extensively inviting the public to the Fair to visit and buy books, it also spares no effort in organising diversified cultural activities during the Book Fair period with a view to enhance the contents and quality of the Fair.

The Hong Kong Book Fair divided into different thematic zones, showcasing a diverse selection of reading materials, including the General Books Pavilion, English Avenue, International Cultural Village, Children’s Paradise and e-Books & e-Learning Resource.

More than 300 cultural activities arranged during the week-long event including seminars, readings, new book parades, storytelling sessions and performances with the aim of cultivating the public’s cultural awareness and interest in reading. Meanwhile, the Art Gallery, staged on the third floor of the HKCEC, presents a number of exhibitions to enrich readers’ cultural knowledge.

Hong Kong Book Fair 2012
The 23th last from July 18-24 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) in Wan Chai. This year’s fair welcomes 530 exhibitors from more than 30 countries and regions present books on a wide range of topics and in various languages, giving members of the public the chance to enjoy their favourite books and take part in various cultural events. A range of on-site seminars and Art Gallery exhibitions, feature leading writers from around the world, also received an enthusiastic response.

This year the Book Fair under the theme “We Read therefore We Know”. There are seminar series in this biggest international cultural activity, there also about 350 cultural events present under the theme.

Apart from echoing the Theme of the Year, Hong Kong Book Fair cultivate a love for reading, so that people enjoy a more colourful life in a more beautiful world.

Professor Leung Ping Kwan was named the Book Fair’s “Author of the Year” in recognition of his contributions to Hong Kong literature. A variety of his personal items, including photographs, videos and poems, was exhibited at the fair’s Art Gallery.

The Art Gallery also feature photographs collected by Mr Pai to commemorate his father, General Pai Chung-his. Another Art Gallery highlight, “A Journey to the Guangdong Literary World,” spotlight South China’s folk culture, presenting Guangdong opera costumes, Lingnan-style paintings, Chaozhou woodcarving and Shiwan ceramics.

English Avenue and the e-Books and e-Learning Resources zone are among the fair’s 14 pavilions. Other pavilions include Spirituality Zone, Teens’ World, International Cultural Village and Children’s Paradise. The Copyright Exchange Lounge bring buyers together with exhibitors selling copyrights.

The Future Reading Interactive Zone is located in the e-Books and e-Learning Resources pavilion. Its virtual manager recommend books to visitors using face-detection technology. Readers can activate an app in the zone to read select books and create “My Favourite Book” by choosing e-books they’re interested in.

The fair showcase a variety of international authors, with public sessions featuring children’s author Holly Webb, from the United Kingdom, and India’s Chetan Bhagat, author of five novels. The movie 3 Idiots was based on Mr Bhagat’s novel Five Point Someone.

An Introduction to Hong Kong English Authors spotlight a variety of authors living in Hong Kong, including Justin Hill, Anita Moorjani, Nicholas Wong and Xu Xi, who offer creative writing workshops, and poets Elbert Lee, Mary-Jane Newton and Eddie Tay. Jay Oatway, author of Mastering Story, Community & Influence, give a public session on “Mastering Social Media.”

The Renowned Writers Seminar Series, organised by the HKTDC, Ming Pao and Yazhou Zhoukan, feature 17 writers from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Chinese Taiwan, Malaysia and the US.

They include Kenneth Pai Hsien-yung, founder of the Taiwanese literary journal Modern Literature, and a renowned novelist, playwright and critic Zi Zhongyun, a Senior Fellow at the Institute of American Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and one of China’s leading scholars on international relations also participate.

One of China’s most successful Internet writers, Murong Xuecun, also take part in the series. Mr Murong’s Leave Me Alone: A Novel of Chengdu, was first published on the Internet, adapted for film and nominated for the Man Asian Literary Prize.

More than 300 cultural activities were held at this year’s Book Fair, attracting 160,000 participants. The Renowned Writers Seminar, hosted by Kenneth Pai Hsien-yung and Zi Zhong-yun, and the English Reading and Creative Writing Seminar, hosted by Indian novelist Chetan Bhagat, proved particularly popular. As well, “Cultural July, Joyful Summer Reading,” a programme of about 50 pre-event activities, attracted more than 11,000 visitors.

Hong Kong Book Fair 2011
The 22th last from July 20-26 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) in Wan Chai. This year’s fair welcomes 520 exhibitors from 24 countries and regions present books on a wide range of topics and in various languages, giving members of the public the chance to enjoy their favourite books and take part in various cultural events. A range of on-site seminars and Art Gallery exhibitions, feature leading writers from around the world, also received an enthusiastic response.

This year the Book Fair under the theme “Reading as Self-discovery”. There are seminar series in this biggest international cultural activity, there also about 300 cultural events present under the theme.

Apart from echoing the Theme of the Year, Hong Kong Book Fair cultivate a love for reading, so that people enjoy a more colourful life in a more beautiful world.

Other highlights include English Avenue, with nearly 90 booths and the largest display of English books ever shown at the fair. Several international publishers making their debut include Penguin, HarperCollins, Macmillan and Random House. They are joined by such regional exhibitors as Page One, Metrobooks, Bookazine and Swindon. The International Cultural Village features books from 16 countries and regions while a Copyright Exchange Lounge provides a venue for buyers and exhibitors for copyright negotiation.

This year’s book fair invited famous writers and distinguished authors from around the world, including the United Kingdom’s Nicholas Coleridge, Karl Taro Greenfeld of the United States, India’s Tabish Khair, Chinese Taiwan’s Li Ao and the Chinese mainland’s Bi Feiyu.

Four British authors – historian and broadcaster Dr David Starkey, critic and essayist AA Gill, food writer Tom Parker Bowles and novelist and publisher Nicholas Coleridge – speak at two open forums, 22 July at the HKCEC, and 23 July at the University of Hong Kong’s Loke Yew Hall. The sessions are moderated by Hong Kong businessman and author Sir David Tang.

UK poet Wendy Cope, Hong Kong-based British author Justin Hill and Julia Lovell, who lectures in modern Chinese history and literature at the University of London, also speak at the fair. Other notable authors include American detective fiction writer Ridley Pearson and Hong Kong’s own Xu Xi. Each host a public session. Ms Lovell’s latest book, The Opium War, was launched at the book fair. Local columnist Chip Tsao and publisher Peter Gordon moderate for select sessions.

Chinese Taiwan’s Li Ao and the Chinese mainland’s Bi Feiyu, winner of the 2010 Man Asian Literary Prize, are among the authors taking part in the Renowned Writers Series, organised by the HKTDC and Yazhou Zhoukan. An exhibition of the work of Hong Kong author Xi Xi, this year’s Book Fair “Author of the Year,” is on display at the fair’s Art Gallery.

eBooks are a new trend in reading and learning. In order to bring visitors more opportunities to come into contact with ebooks, a special zone for ebooks was set up at the Book Fair last year to let readers learn more about the latest digital reading information.

The Book Fair also host a Chinese-language essay-writing competition related to the event theme – “Reading the World, Reading as Self-Discovery.” Competitors was asked to write essays under the heading “Random Thoughts in Self-Discovery through e-Reading.

Hong Kong Book Fair 2010
The 21th last from July 21-27 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) in Wan Chai. This year’s fair welcomes 510 exhibitors from 22 countries and regions present books on a wide range of topics and in various languages, giving members of the public the chance to enjoy their favourite books and take part in various cultural events. A range of on-site seminars and Art Gallery exhibitions, feature leading writers from around the world, also received an enthusiastic response.

This year the Book Fair under the theme “Writing the Future”, included more than 250 cultural events, has attracted a record number of exhibitors, as well as notable Chinese authors and an unprecedented number of English-language authors. Special guests at this year’s Book Fair include Han Han, Chan Man Hung, Albert Cheng, Chua Lam, Po Chung, Audrey Eu, Regina Ip, Lam Chiu Ying, Lee Chack Fan and Leung Chun Ying.

Apart from echoing the Theme of the Year, Hong Kong Book Fair cultivate a love for reading, so that people enjoy a more colourful life in a more beautiful world.

Beyond authors, this year’s highlights include the International Cultural Village, featuring books from 13 countries, and English Avenue. With nearly 50 per cent more space than last year, English Avenue showcase the fair’s largest display of English books, for example, Metrobooks, Bookazine, Swindon and other retailers.

An “eBook and Digital Publishing” zone make its debut at the Book Fair, which celebrates its 21st edition this year. The new zone display the latest ebooks and digital-reading products from 20 exhibitors, including Hanvon Technology, Sino United Publishing, Ming Pao and GroupSense. In addition, a “Digital Interactive zone” allow visitors to operate electronic readers and browse material in ebooks.

The fair’s Asian Publishing Conference examine the impact of digital publishing on the industry, with speakers from the Chinese mainland, Chinese Taiwan, the United Kingdom and the United States. And eBooks and Digital Publishing, a new addition, was among the fair’s 15 pavilions, alongside Teens’ World, the Multimedia Zone and Children’s Paradise. Celebrity storytelling sessions was staged at the Children’s Paradise pavilion.

The three British authors present two open forums, the sessions moderated by Hong Kong businessman and author Sir David Tang. Other notable English-language authors appearing at the July Book Fair include: British poet and literary critic James Fenton; New York-born, Hong Kong-raised novelist Andrew Xia Fukuda; children’s novelist and screenwriter Anthony Horowitz; and novelist Xu Xi, a Chinese-Indonesian native of Hong Kong and writer-in-residence at City University of Hong Kong’s Department of English. The four authors each host a seminar at the Book Fair, with Chip Tsao and Peter Gordon to moderate select sessions.

Chinese-language authors from all over the world also be featured at the Book Fair. They include best-selling Chinese mainland author Han Han, recently nominated as one of Time magazine’s “100 world’s most influential people.” Also taking part are Germany’s Jade Y Chen, a best-selling novelist and playwright, Chen Wen-hsien, a Chinese Taiwan author, politician and TV commentator, and Tu Weiming, Professor of Chinese History and the Philosophy of Confucian Studies at Harvard University.

The Book Fair’s digital spotlight continue at the Asian Publishing Conference, presented by the Hong Kong Publishing Federation. The conference focus on the impact of digital publishing on the traditional publishing industry. Conference guest speakers include: Chinese mainland Bookdao President Cheng Sanguo; Taiwanese Cite Media Holding Group CEO He Feipeng; United Kingdom independent publishing consultant Christopher Paterson; and United States’ McGraw-Hill Education, Professional Group, President Philip Ruppel.

HKTDC
The HKTDC is the international marketing arm for Hong Kong-based traders, manufacturers and services providers. With more than 40 offices globally, including 13 on the Chinese mainland, the HKTDC promotes Hong Kong as a platform for doing business with China and throughout Asia. The HKTDC also organises international exhibitions, conferences and business missions to provide companies, particularly SMEs, with business opportunities on the mainland and in overseas markets, while providing information via trade publications, research reports and digital channels including the media room.