Dissident playwright Gao Xingjian, the first Chinese author to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, is to be invited to visit the SAR by the Government, an official said yesterday.
Paul Leung Sai-wah, director of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, said Gao would be invited to attend academic forums despite his dissident status.
Mr Leung said he did not foresee any problems in inviting Gao as he had visited Hong Kong before.
But a spokeswoman for the Security Bureau refused to say if Gao would be allowed to come, saying the bureau would not comment on individual cases. Last night, a spokesman for the Beijing Liaison Office said he was not aware of the invitation.
The work of Gao, 60, who won the Nobel Prize on Thursday, has been banned in China since 1986. He left the mainland in 1987 and settled in France as a political refugee.
Mr Leung said an invitation would be sent to Gao 'before long'. He hoped the author could give several seminars.
Mr Leung's deputy, Choi Suk-kuen, said the department hoped to invite Gao to attend the Hong Kong Literature Festival next June and July.
