• The Festival's Mission
• How did the Festival get started?
• How is the Festival funded?
• The Board of Directors

The Hong Kong International Literary Festival        

The Hong Kong International Literary Festival is organised and coordinated by Hong Kong International Literary Festival Limited, a registered company limited by guarantee that is run as a not-for-profit organization. Featuring overseas and local authors, the Festival offers a ten-day programme of literary events annually in March. The Festival has become an important and significant event on the international arts calendar, with programmes that include winners of the world's leading Literary Prizes: Man Booker, Nobel Laureate, Pulitzer, National Book Award, Whitbread, Carnegie, Kiriyama, Prix Goncourt and the Commonwealth Writers Awards. The Festival's international status is clearly confirmed by both the quality of authors and range of countries represented. Each year, the programme offered promises to be as vibrant as Hong Kong is exciting, as dynamic as Hong Kong is cosmopolitan and as diverse as Hong Kong is multicultural.

The Festival's Mission           

The Hong Kong International Literary Festival celebrates creative writing in English and emphasises writing with an Asian connection. The Festival features both established and emerging authors and includes works in translation, literary fiction and non-fiction, poetry and scriptwriting. The Festival unites authors and readers and promotes the literary arts and a love of literature. 

How did the Festival get started?   

Started by a small group of Friends in 2001, The Hong Kong International Literary Festival has attracted more support and attention each year, and is now receiving recognition and stature on the international literary stage.

The Festival acknowledges with thanks the following founding and previous Directors who have ensured this continued success:

• Jane Camens
• Peter Gordon
• Ilyas Kahn
• Elaine Leung
• Shirley Lim
• David McKirdy
• Rosemary Sayer
• Nury Vittachi

How is the Festival funded?

The Festival receives support from companies, grants, consulates, community partners and small businesses. Individual Patron donations, ticket revenue and Friends of the Festival membership fees are also significant sources of income.

The Board of Directors

The Board of Directors includes five community professionals:

• Tisa Ho, editor, writer and Executive Director of the Hong Kong Arts Festival with a strong background in arts management and media;
• Gabriela Kennedy, Partner in the Intellectual Property, Media and Technology Group of Lovells; 
• Douglas Kerr, Professor in the School of English at the University of Hong Kong;
• David Parker, Professor of English and Chair of the English Department at Chinese University of Hong Kong; and
• Christine Van, qualified as a barrister-at-law in the UK (1985) and Hong Kong (1986) and worked in litigation, corporate and commercial law in London, Hong Kong and Tokyo before relocating to Hong Kong in 1994 where she has since worked in her family's toy premium design and manufacturing business.

• General Manager, Melissa Long
• Editorial Manager, Amanda Hayes
• Schools Coordinator, Minna Cheng
• Development Coordinator, Christine Brueschke*
• Marketing Consultant, Gina Hertel*

*Contract Staff