Bookworm festival opens with 'Obama's poet' in Beijing

Event highlights

A Novel Approach: Experimenting with Language and Style

6 pm, March 17; Bookworm

Running Through Beijing author Xu Zechen in conversation with writers Eimear McBride from Ireland and Anna Smaill from New Zealand on writing novels.

Ken Hom, Master Chef

6 pm, March 18; Bookworm

American-born celebrity chef and writer Ken Hom will talk about the Chinese elements of his cooking for leaders of countries and royalty, and about his 80 books, with the session moderated by food blogger Kristen Lum.

Innovation and Imitation in China

12 pm, March 19; Bookworm

Part of the "China future perfect" series of discussions, the panel will have Kaiser Kuo, director of international communications for Baidu; Christina Larson, contributor to Science magazine; and Edmond Lococo, senior vice-president for public relations at ICR, to look into topics from vehicles to entrepreneurs.

In Conversation with Xinran

7 pm, March 19; Dulwich College

Xue Xinran, who writes under the pen name Xinran, is a Chinese-British journalist and author. She will talk about her books, including international best-seller The Good Women of China and her latest, Buy Me the Sky, about Chinese born under the family planning policy.

Crime and Vice

12 pm, March 20; Bookworm

Shanghai-born Qiu Xiaolong, a renowned crime novelist who writes in English as well, will discuss with Hong Kong-based author Nury Vittachi social realities that inspire crime fiction.

Creating Worlds: Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy

8 pm, March 21; Bookworm

Sci-fi writer Han Song who won China's Galaxy Award for fiction for six times, and wrote such books as 2066: Red Star Over America, will join Israeli author Ofir Touche Gafla and Polish fantasy writer Andrzej Sapkowski in a talk on fantasy writing.

Poetry in Translation

6 pm, March 24; Bookworm

Hailed as China's Allen Ginsberg for his avant-garde works, Sichuan-born poet Yi Sha will read poems along with Swiss author Yves Laplace and will examine poetry translation.

El Impostor

4 pm, March 26; Cervantes Institute

Spanish writer Javier Cercas brings his latest novel, El Impostor (The Impostor), to China. He will sit with one of China's top Spanish scholars Chen Zhongyi for a cross-cultural dialogue.