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Literary Festival thrills local fans
A talk show by British Writer Patrick Gale on February 28 at Bookworm in downtown Chengdu kicked off The Bookworm Internatonal Literary Festival 2008. The festival will last for nearly one month and is expected to“present opportunities for as broad, cross-sections for our Chengdu communities as possible to get involved and do something bookish this March.”
Patrick Gale, whose new novel Notes from an Exhibition has recently been shortlisted for the Richard and Judy Best Read of the Year Award, gave a speech to an audience of which half are Chengdu residents, interrupted by frequent applauses because of the humor and snip-snapin the speech.
With a 20-year living in Penzance of Comwall County, Patrick Gale would like to call himself the“Most westerly writer in English.”He admitted that the pristine scenery and artist-favoring Penzance have given quite a lot inspiration to his fictions. Now he lives in his farm in Penzance, writing, farming and cultivating flowers.“I always focus on writing those stories of family.”As if to be true to his words, he bought a necklace for his mother the next day he arrived in Chengdu.“It’s my first time to visit Chengdu. I’ve been to the panda base, Du Fu’s Cottage and some other places.”Compared with the quiet Penzance, Chengdu in Patrick’s view is a city being“Noisy.”“These days children in Britain like to learn Mandarin. For they want to come and see Beijing Olympic Games. If there is a MIND Olympic Games, maybe I will take part in,”Patrick added.
The festival will put more celebrities under the spotlight, other than Patrick Gale.“Our festival in this inaugural year features an extraordinary array of talents, like Patrick Gale. And our authors have received a startling number of literary awards, including the Frank O’connor award, Guardian First Book, Orange, Samuel Johnson, McCash Poetry, and so on,”said Ben Hunter, the Festival Team member,“We believe these writers are representatives of some of the most exciting aspects of contemporary literature today.”
To Ben’s delight, the first night attracted not only foreigners living in Chengdu, but quite a number of local people.“We are beyond a coffee book; we are always applying ourselves to providing a platform for communication among multi-culture and for people with different cultural backgrounds.”
The festival will also hold a celebration on March 19 to recommend books by Ba Jin, who is called“Chengdu’s famous son”and a legendary writer in 20th Century.
by He Hong
A Frenchman finds his space in Chengdu
Professor Jean-Paul Debenat gave a brilliant lecture on Wednesday at University of Electronic Science and Technology of China during his visit to Chengdu, bringing his new book. Sasquatch et le mystère des hommes sauvage (The Sonwman and the Mystery of Savages).
This is the first time for Professor Debenat to visit the city. When asked about his first impression of Chengdu, the professor used a very ingenious word—space which, as he explained, means the environment for people in a city.“I saw many parks and trees in Chengdu,”he said,“It’s quite good. I have been to Chongqing and Xi’an. But I think Chengdu has more‘space’.”
Interestingly, on Professor Debenat’s name card there is a Chinese character“本”, written in the ancient calligraphy, even he does not understand any of the Chinese language. He said that his wife is studying Chinese at this moment. Once he opened his wife’s book and saw this character and felt a sudden and mysterious connection with it.“To me, this character means a big tree, which has a deep root,”he recalled,“It seems to represent my dedication, my career and my life.”
Even this is his first time in Chengdu, Professor Debenat felt comfortable in the city and he is quite used to local weather, saying the weather in Chengdu is rather similar to that of his hometown, wet and mild, and that Chengdu people are friendly. He even tried local food, the Sichuan dishes that usually proved abominable to some foreigners for their hot, spicy flavors.“To tell you the truth, I actually like it very much,”he said.
His new book, Sasquatch et le mystère des hommes sauvages, is about the Snowmen and the legends of wild men.“I think there is something in the air that calls you to be willing to know more about the mysterious stuff on the earth. I will try my best to introduce to the students a brand new knowledge.”
The visit of Professor Jean-Paul Debenat is organized by Alliance Francaise. China has a long time good relationship with France, and Chengdu and Montpellier have established sister-cities relationship for over 26 years. Cooperations between the two cities include those on culture, economic, medicine and sanitation and it is expected that the famous Chengdu Temple Fair will be held in France next year.
Links: Since the 1970’s Professor Jean-Paul Debenat have lectured in many classes at colleges on such subjects as Sasquatch, Man’s Origins, geology, etc. At the age of 50 he abandoned city life to“tie up loose ends”and pursue scientific, cultural, intellectual and philosophical interests. At Wenatchee Valley College and Eastern Washington University, he received four degrees in Arts and Science, Anthropology, Geology, and Philosophy. In 1990 he addressed the International Society of Cryptozoology at Surrey, England, on the subject matter of this book. Currently much of his time is devoted to writing, teaching, lecturing, scientific research, and work
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