Writers take the stage

Symposium Speakers: Helen Dunmore (45) : Born in Yorkshire, living in Bristol, southwest England. Award-winning poet, children's novelist and short-story writer. Third novel, A Spell of Winter, won the women's writers award, the Orange Prize for Fiction, in 1996. Writer of three other adult novels - Zennor in Darkness, Burning Bright and Talking to the Dead. Her latest, Your Blue-eyed Boy, has just been published.

Romesh Gunesekera (44) : Born in Sri Lanka, moved to England in his teens to study English and philosophy at university. First novel, Reef, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1994. His latest novel, The Sandglass, is reviewed on the opposite page. Gunesekera will also be conducting a two-week creative writing workshop for 20 fledgling Hong Kong authors.

Blake Morrison (47) : Born in Yorkshire. Autobiography, And When Did You Last See Your Father, winner of various British awards. Also a poet with various collections of poetry to his name, both children's and adults, he has written critical studies of Seamus Heaney and co-edited The Penguin Book of Contemporary Poetry.

Grace Nichols (48) : Born in Guyana, arrived in London in 1977. Taught and worked as a journalist. Publications include I is a Long-memoried Woman and Lazy Thoughts of a Lazy Woman. Won 1983 Commonwealth Poetry Prize.

Other writers attending: John Agard (49) : Born in Guyana, moved to Britain in 1977. Has worked as a lecturer for the Commonwealth Institute, as an actor, jazz performer and writer of children's stories and poetry. His poetry for adults includes Shoot Me with Flowers and Life Doesn't Frighten me at All; children's stories include Go Noah, Ho!; and poetry for children - Lend Me Yours Wings and The Calypso Alphabet.

Martin Booth (53) : Lived and was educated in Hong Kong from 1950 to 1964. Writes adult and children's fiction, non-fiction such as Opium: a history, and for cinema and television. Of his 12 adult novels, Hiroshima Joe and The Iron Tree are set in Hong Kong, as is his latest and award-winning children's story, Music on the Bamboo Radio.

Denis Bond (51) : Trained and worked as an actor in the theatre and on television, then worked as a teacher. Wrote popular children's television series Rainbow and The Munch Bunch. He produces picture books for children and writes under the pen name Denise Colby.