March 11: Talk – Peter Hessler Inside a Chinese Factory Town

Peter Hessler is an award-winning American writer who writes about life in contemporary China. He will talk about his latest book, Country Driving: A Journey Through China from Farm to Factory, at the University of Hong Kong on Friday, March 11, 2011.

Hessler gives many enduring portraits of life in China – including life in the factory towns of Southern China. In this latest book, he tells the story of the change inside one of those towns, Lishui, located in one of China’s special economic zones.

Hessler will discuss the research he accumulated for the book, including the entrepreneurs, workers and other characters he found and interviewed along the way during multiple visits.

About the author:

Peter Hessler is a staff writer at The New Yorker, where he served as the Beijing correspondent from 2000 to 2007, and is also a contributing writer for the National Geographic. He is the author of River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze, which won the Kiriyama Book Prize, and Oracle Bones:  A Journey Between China’s Past and Present, which was a finalist for the National Book Award. He won the 2008 National Magazine Award for excellence in reporting.

Hessler’s appearance is organised by the JMSC and is courtesy of the Hong Kong International Literary Festival and was arranged with the help of the U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong, which sponsored his and other U.S. authors’ participation in this year’s festival.

The Hong Kong International Literary Festival runs from March 8 to March 18. In addition to his talk at HKU, Hessler is participating in two other festival events, “River Town to Open Roads,” on March 9 and “Three Hacks on China,” on March 10, details of these two events can be found here.

Date: Friday, March 11, 2011

Time: 3 to 4:30 pm

Venue: P4, Chong Yuet Ming Physics Building, HKU