LATEST NEWS

Thank you to everyone who joined our summer event series over the past weeks. After 21 years inspiring the joy of reading in Hong Kong’s diverse communities, this was the first year we ran a programme of summer events, took part in the Hong Kong Book Fair, collaborated with the HK Trade Development Council, and ran events at West Kowloon Cultural District. It was a great pleasure to share these new experiences with you and we wanted to recap some of the highlights before turning our attention to the 21^st ILF in November.

In a welcome return to live events, journalist Florence de Changy spoke at Asia Society’s Miller Theatre on 29^th June. This talk about the mysterious 2014 disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was so popular that Florence has kindly agreed to repeat it in November. Our second live event took place on 7^th July at Centricity, when author and private equity investor Weijian Shan shared insights from his new book, Money Games, as well as some intriguing investing tips.

This year HKILF launched a collaboration with the Hong Kong Book Fair to bring the best global authors to Hong Kong audiences as part of their English and International Seminar Series. We also had a booth selling children’s books, publicizing upcoming events and screening past events. It was exciting to be part of the book buzz at HKEC and to see everyone who stopped by.

Also in July, we partnered with West Kowloon Cultural District to bring world-class authors to the Xiqu Centre to discuss Asian superheroes and what it means to be a hero in your own life, from ancient legends to the present day. It was a thrill to hear one of the world’s top fantasy writers, Neil Gaiman, speaking with esteemed historian and translator Julia Lovell about the legend of Monkey King and its enduring influence across cultures and genres.  We also brought the latest incarnation of Monkey King to Hong Kong, in the form of the new DC Comics superhero, Monkey Prince. Writer Gene Luen Yang and illustrator Bernard Chang shared jokes and stories about their influences, their creative process, and their hopes for this new hero.

Finally, on 25^th July, Tara Westover, bestselling author if the memoir Educated offered a more personal reflection on heroism, overcoming adversity and succeeding against the odds. This was a moving and inspiring way to end our summer programme, but don’t worry if you missed it as there is still time. Two of our summer events are available to view on Crowdcast for only $30: Gene and Bernard until 19^th August and Tara Westover until 24^th August.