Last week we reported Peter Hessler’s last minute withdrawal from the Bookworm Literary Festival for unspecified personal reasons. Since then several other events have been canceled or changed, with one session altered after the author was refused a visa for China.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Australian author Robert Dessaix was refused a visa for China “because he is HIV-positive.” The article states: “Dessaix, who has never been to China, put in his visa application four weeks ago. The guidelines for the application stated that HIV status had no prejudicial bearing. In good faith, he declared it. Dessaix had had no political involvement in matters concerning China, and said he had been told by Australian officials that although China did not give reasons for the visa refusal, his health status was the issue.”

The visa application form that can be downloaded from the website of the Chinese Embassy in Australia states that applicants who declare an HIV positive status “do not lose eligibility for visa application.”

The SMH article quotes Dessaix as saying: ''It's medieval. I feel snubbed and insulted, of course, and also humiliated… There had been interventions at the highest level on my behalf, but they were refused, so I see it as a snub to Australia, not just to me.''

As a result of Dessaix’s forced cancelation, the 12.30 pm session at the Bookworm Literary Festival tomorrow (Tuesday, 9 March) has been changed to the following:

Australia in the Asian Literary Space
A conversation with Australian Ambassador Geoff Raby, publisher Ivor Indyk and NT Wordstorm festival director Sandra Thibodeaux. A critic, essayist and reviewer, Ivor Indyk is founding editor and publisher of HEAT magazine and the award-winning Giramondo book imprint, and Whitlam Professor in the Writing and Society Research Group at the University of Western Sydney. Playwright, poet and musician Sandra Thibodeaux has written 12 plays that have been staged as part of festivals in Darwin, Bali and Sydney, and broadcast on Radio National. In 2005, she was short-listed for the Patrick White Playwright's Award. Sandra has published two books of poetry, the latest of these being Delivery (PressPress).
RMB 50

The Beijing Through a Lens session that was to have featured Peter Hessler and Michael Meyer (Last Days of Old Beijing), discussing the dismantling of old Beijing and the changing fortunes of lao Beijingers will now feature Michael Meyer and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ian Johnson, former Beijing correspondent for the Wall Street Journal. It will take place at 7pm on Saturday, 13 March. RMB 50.

Lauren Child has also canceled her appearances, meaning the following sessions will not longer be taking place:

Lauren Child, 12:30 pm, Thursday 18 March
Literary Lunch with  Lauren Child, 12.30pm, Friday 19 March