HKILF’s literary legend visits through the years
Weird and wonderful real-life tales of authors who have appeared at the Hong Kong International Literary Festival, from Margaret Atwood to Salman Rushdie
The Hong Kong International Literary Festival is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year (March 1 to 8), marking a quarter of a century of bringing some of the most famous – and in some cases, most quirky – authors to the city.
Among those with more than one story to tell have been:
Bonnie Tsui: most recent book: On Muscle: The Stuff That Moves Us and Why It Matters (2025)
It was perhaps inevitable that Tsui would publish her 2020 book Why We Swim, which explores the global history and personal allure of swimming.
In the book, Tsui discusses her parents’ meeting as a central part of her family’s “origin story”. The teenagers crossed paths at a public swimming pool in Hong Kong (although Tsui has never specified which one) in 1968, he working as a lifeguard at the pool, she – a “bikini-clad beauty” – visiting to swim. Tsui notes that because of this meeting, it was “inevitable” that she and her brother would become competitive swimmers and lifeguards.
After moving to the United States, her father, George Tsui, won an Emmy Award in 1997, for his work in NBC’s art department.
Tsui is making two appearances at this year’s festival: in discussion with fellow writer Arshay Cooper at The Science and Soul of Strength event (March 1, at Wyndham Social), the pair discussing how movement, especially on and in the water, shapes identity, fosters belonging and strengthens body and spirit; and as a keynote speaker (March 3).