The Curtain Rises — Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Macau
ON THE EDGE of the Pearl River, Spring mist obscures almost everything beyond the pathways around Sun Yat-Sen University campus. What lies beyond the weeping figs lining the avenues leaves room for imagination.
‘Ideas and Realities’, Asia Pacific Writers and Translators’ 2016 conference, takes place on this campus from 24-27th November.
We spent a couple of days this Spring with Dai Fan, director of Sun Yat-Sen’s Centre for Creative Writing and APWT’s China host, mapping out venues for the November gathering and, with the help of Centre’s assistant Peng Dongmin, hotel recommendations and directions. See the hotel suggestions HERE.
We can give you a pretty good idea of what’s in store for our multi-faceted ‘Ideas and Realities’ event. And here’s an exciting news flash. Our APWT friends have offered follow-up events in Hong Kong and Macau on Sunday 27th and Monday 28th November. Our main events, covered by the conference fee, all take place at the Sun Yat-Sen campus.
Here’s the proposed skeleton:
In the campus’s main dining hall. Jane Camens (APWT) and Dai Fan (Sun Yat-Sen University).
Guangzhou
Thursday, 24th November, we suggest you arrive by mid afternoon to join us around 5 pm for off-campus book launches and/or readings at the Kui Yuan Café Gallery, Xuguyuan Lu, Yuexiu District. This evening will be at participants’ own expense. The cool artists’ café in an old district of the city serves inexpensive light meals and alcohol.
Friday, 25th November, Day One – a day with two keynotes, presentations and panel discussions (non academic), academic papers (in a separate hall for this new APWT conference stream), and master classes – concluding with an early Welcome Dinner on campus, hosted by Sun Yat-Sen. The conference fee covers this dinner as well as the light lunches served on Friday and Saturday.
Saturday, 26th November, Day Two: in addition to a full program of panels, workshops and, possibly, readings, in the afternoon we hold APWT’s AGM with announcements about future plans and our current status. That evening we strongly recommend joining us for an off campus feast at a quality Yunnan restaurant.
After dinner on Friday and/or Saturday, there may be an opportunity to join a local Guangzhou writers’ group (Spoken Word) for readings at an edgy café way off campus, for the adventurous. (The after dinner opportunity is not an official ‘Ideas and Realities’ activity.)
Sunday 27th November. On this third and last day in Guangzhou, we will offer additional workshops and readings at SYS campus in the morning.
Post Conference
1) Hong Kong – PM Sunday 27th November
The train from Guangzhou to Hong Kong takes two hours.
Join us outside the main conference itinerary (at your own expense) for panels on Sunday afternoon in Hong Kong. Later evening, 17:00-22:00 Hong Kong-based poets have organized for us to join them for readings at a bar in the city.
2) Macau – PM Monday 28th November
Our friends at Macau’s Script Road Literary Festival have offered to host readings at the Portuguese Bookshop. There may also be an opportunity for established authors to talk to students at the University of Macau.
The jetfoil from Hong Kong to Macau takes 70 minutes and costs around US$26 one-way. A bus from Sun Yat-Sen to the Chinese border at Macau takes two hours and costs around US$11, should anyone wish to travel straight to the former Portuguese enclave from the conference.
Let us know before 30 April if you plan to join us.
See CALL FOR PAPERS if you want to be on one of our panels or wish to join our new academic stream.
If you plan to attend any of the events in Hong Kong or Macau, or if you want to read or speak, please let us now by writing to admin@apwriters.com.
To obtain your China visa you will need to have booked your accommodation. See our recommended accommodation options HERE.
I hope to see you in Guangzhou this November. This will be the ninth and my final conference as lead organizer. Next year the APWT conference will be in Jakarta and organized by Sanaz Fotouhi, working with me on China.
Jane Camens
Executive Director, APWT