Peter Hessler has been one of the most consistently popular attendees at the Beijing International Literary Festival over the years, and his wonderful River Town and Oracle Bones are essential reading for China watchers. Hessler will be talking about his new work, Country Driving: A Journey Through China from Farm to Factory at this year’s festival – note the date of his talk has changed. A second talk, Beijing Through a Lens, featuring Hessler and Mike Meyer (Last Days of Old Beijing) has also been moved to a different time and bigger venue - which means more tickets will be available for this previously sold-out event (see details at the end of this post). In the meantime, the travel website WORLDHUM has published an interview with Hessler, in which in discusses the epic drives he undertook in writing his new book.

Hessler manages to pinpoint what it is that holds so many of us here: “China is the kind of country where you constantly discover something new, and revelations occur on a daily basis. One of the most important discoveries is the fact that the Chinese share this sensation. The place changes too fast ... We were all out of place; nobody has today’s China figured out.”

One of the joys of Hessler’s writing is that he doesn’t attempt to “explain” China or what’s happening here – rather he offers sensitive, intelligent observations and considers how personal experiences might relate to the bigger picture. He doesn’t claim to have it “figured out,” but he certainly offers an incisive commentary on a nation in flux.

You can read the WORLDHUM interview here.

From the Bookworm: Peter Hessler New Dates at the Bookworm International Literary Festival

In conversation (was March 12)
New date/time March 19 at 12.30pm
Same venue: The Bookworm, Sanlitun

Beijing Through a Lens (was March 13)
New date/time March 18 at 1pm
New venue: Italian Embassy Cultural Office
More tickets for this event will be on sale from March 3
**BRING PASSPORT/ID CARD TO ATTEND THIS EVENT**

Ticket-holders and waiting list
Your tickets will be honored at the new times or fully refunded if returned to The Bookworm box office by 12th or 13th March respectively.
Those on both waiting lists will be contacted individually and given priority before new tickets are sold.