Literature December
Reading Xi Xi

If everybody is a book, the book of Xi Xi would probably be an intriguing one. One that the more you read, the more interesting it becomes.

It has been two years since Xi Xi left our city and left us, yet the demand for studying Xi Xi’s works continues to grow. In 2023, Suhrkamp published the German translated version of Xi Xi’s My City, and the German translator, Karin Betz, eventually won the Helmut M. Braem Translator Prize for that.

In the second December after Xi Xi’s departure, Goethe-Institut Hongkong is pleased to collaborate with many of Xi Xi’s friends in organizing a series of 3 talks. For those who already know Xi Xi, this will be an opportunity to reread some of her works. For those who haven’t had the chance to know Xi Xi yet, come and discover this interesting Hong Kong author.

The Talks
The Speakers

The Talks

Talk 1
The Xi Xi Space – Reconstructing the World of Xi Xi

Date: 3 Dec 2024 (Tue) 19:00 – 20:30
Speakers: Eva Wong, Louise Law
Language: English
Admission Fee: HKD 50

The Xi Xi Foundation was established in 2023. One of the foundation’s major projects is to create the “Xi Xi Space”. With this in mind, several members of the Foundation have turned from fellow authors into archivists, professional organizers and movers in documenting, categorizing and collecting every piece of furniture, books, paintings, toys from Xi Xi’s former residence in To Kwan Wan, with the goal of opening the Xi Xi Space at Foo Tak House, Wanchai in 2025. The Xi Xi Space will be the first of its kind in Hong Kong, and it will provide the general public with the chance to get a glimpse of Xi Xi’s former living and working space.

In this event, two members of the Xi Xi Foundation, Louise Law and Eva Wong, will talk about the preparatory process of the Xi Xi Space. Eva Wong will also share her memories of her time with Xi Xi, as brought up by the individual objects she rediscovered in Xi Xi’s home.

Talk 2
Translating Xi Xi

Date: 10 Dec 2024 (Tue) 19:00 – 20:30
Speakers: Jennifer Feeley, Kathrin Bode
Language: English
Admission fee: HKD 50

Günter Grass once said, “Translation is that which transforms everything so that nothing changes”. What it takes for a translation work to transform everything so that nothing changes should in no way be underestimated than the creation of the original work itself. A good translation can bridge cultural gaps and bring people together.

In this event, Jennifer Feely, the English translator of Xi Xi’s Mourning a Breast, Not Written Words: Selected Poetry of Xi Xi, and Carnival of Animals: Xi Xi’s Animal Poems, will talk to Kathrin Bode, a German scholar who has recently started translating Xi Xi’s poems and prose into German. They will focus on “Space/Venues”, a subject matter that can very often be found in Xi Xi’s works.

Talk 3
Xi Xi, Brecht and the German Cinema

Date: 17 Dec 2024 (Tue) 19:00 – 20:30
Speakers: Ho Fuk Yan, Kwok Sze Wing, Cheung Lik Kwan
Language: Cantonese
Admission fee: HKD 50

Xi Xi was not only an outstanding writer, but also a sharp reader and film critics. Xi Xi was a wide-read person and her interest in films was diverse. World literature and films inspired her writing, and served as an opportunity for her to dialogue with the world. With her publication of “Feituzhen huilanji” (The Fertile Town Chalk Circle) in 1987, Xi Xi first started the conversation between German avant-garde theater and classical Chinese literature. In “Xi Xi Watching Movie” she had no intention to hide her passion for German directors such as Murnau and Fritz Lang.

In this event, three speakers will talk about Xi Xi’s association with German culture. Mr. Ho Fuk Yan and Mr. Cheung Lik Kwan will focus on the relationship between Xi Xi’s works and Bertolt Brecht, one of the most influential German playwrights in the 20th century. Ms. Kwok Sze Wing will present Xi Xi’s views and comments on German cinema through Xi Xi’s movie column articles.

The Speakers

Wong Yi

Wong Yi is an award-winning Hong Kong writer, librettist, radio show host, and a founding member of Xi Xi Foundation. In 2020, she was named one of 20 Young Sinophone Novelists to Watch by the Taiwanese literary magazine Unitas. She is the author of four short story collections: Ways To Love In A Crowded City (2021), The Four Seasons of Lam Yip (2019), Patched Up (2015), and News Stories (2010). She was the Hong Kong Writer-in-residence for Hong Kong Baptist University's first Chinese Writers Workshop in 2021, Writer-in-residence for Hong Kong Education University in 2023, and has participated in events such as the Singapore Writers Festival, Singapore Book Fair, Hong Kong International Literary Festival, and Taipei International Book Exhibition. In 2023, she participated in the University of Iowa's International Writing Program Fall Residency.

©Louise Law

Louise Law

Louise Law is a poet, editor and cultural programmer based in Hong Kong. She was the editor of the Hong Kong literary magazine Fleurs des lettres. She is the author of the Chinese poetry collection Or So It Seems (2018). In recent years, she has been actively involved in promoting translations of Hong Kong literature to the world. She is also the founder of the Xi Xi Space, a space paying tribute to the Hong Kong writer Xi Xi.

©Jennifer Feeley

Jennifer Feeley

Jennifer Feeley is the translator of Xi Xi’s Mourning a Breast, Not Written Words: Selected Poetry of Xi Xi, and Carnival of Animals: Xi Xi’s Animal Poems, as well as the novel Tongueless by Lau Yee-Wa, Chen Jiatong’s White Fox series, and Wong Yi’s Cantonese chamber opera libretto Women Like Us. Her forthcoming translations include Xi Xi’s My City. She is the recipient of the 2017 Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize and a 2019 National Endowment for the Arts Literature Translation Fellowship.

©Kathrin Bode

Kathrin Bode

Kathrin Bode studied the Chinese language in Bonn and Wuhan, Hubei Province. 2004, she graduated in the University of Bonn as teacher for German as a Foreign language. She worked as such at the universities in Bonn and Cologne, Germany. From 2015 to 2019, she moved to Tianjin, Mainland China, and worked as a DAAD lecturer (German Academic Exchange Service) in the German department at Tianjin Foreign Language University. In 2020, she began teaching at Hong Kong Baptist University, again as a DAAD-lecturer. In her spare time, she translates from Chinese into German. She translated poems by Chinese poet Lin Bai, published 2021 by Hefte für Ostasiatische Literatur in Munich; in 2022. A short story collection by Feng Jicai was published by Ostasien Verlag in Großheirath, Germany, followed by a short story by the Beijing author Shi Yifeng, which will be published shortly. Since 2021, she has been translating und publishing works from Hong Kong, including Darren Lo and Tong Yui.

©Ho Fuk Yan

Ho Fuk Yan

Living in Hong Kong, Ho Fuk Yan is actively involved in writing and book editing. He has authored collections of poetry, essays, and critiques. Notably, he edited "Animal Carnival - The Animal Poems of Xi Xi," which received the 4th Hong Kong Publishing Biennial Awards in the literature and fiction category, along with the Best Publishing Grand Prize. Additionally, he directed the documentary film "Birds of Passage: A Writer of Our City" focusing on Xi Xi. His recent works include "Endless Conversations," a dialogue collection co-authored with Xi Xi, and the poetry collection "Posthumous Poems, for lcarus.”

Lik-kwan CHEUNG

Lik-kwan CHEUNG received his Ph.D. from the Division of Intercultural Studies, the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). He is an adjunct assistant professor at the Department of Chinese Language and Literature, CUHK. He is also an examiner of Hong Kong Arts Development Council, and the academic editor of O-Square: Journal of Literature and Culture. He was a visiting scholar of Harvard-Yenching Institute (2009-2010). His book, Qu Qiu-bai and Transcultural Modernity was published by the Chinese University of Hong Kong Press (2020). He won the “Recommended Prize of Literary Criticism, the 16th Hong Kong Biennial Awards for Chinese Literature” (2022) for this book.

Kwok Sze Wing

Kwok Sze Wing is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chinese at Hang Seng University of Hong Kong. She received her Ph.D. from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Her research interests include modern Chinese literature, film adaptations, Hong Kong literature, and creative writing education. In recent years, she has focused on topics such as post-97 Hong Kong literature and auditory culture. She has recently edited the book "Differences and Connections - Dialogues between Post-70s Hong Kong Writers."

Literature December Reading Xi Xi