The bookworm was a trending bookstore and restaurant in Beijing, known to host book launches, readings, talks and open mics, as well as offer a range of international and Chinese literary translations. The bookstore and cafe, once run solely as a library, was transformed by its new owner and manager Peter Goff, who moved to Beijing over ten years ago, and like myself, fell in love with this fast growing and conveniently unremitting city. For Goff, Beijing proved to be beaming with the possibility for a new start, and with his early love of literature he transformed this quaint library into Beijing’s most recognized literary hub, hosting poets and writers from around the world.
This literary organization has now expanded to three prominent cities in China; including Chengdu and Suzhou. And shortly after its opening in 2005, the bookworm hosted its first annual literary festival in 2007, which is now one of the largest bilingual cultural festivals in China. Previous festival attendees have included Dave Eggers, Yuo Hua, David Sedaris, Gary Shteyngart, Lionel Shriver, Junot Diaz, Amitav Ghosh, Xiaolu Guo, Benjamin Zephaniah, Yiyun Li, Peter Hessler, and Nobel laureate Mo Yan, among others.
The last Literary Festival featured more than 180 writers, thinkers, and performers hailing from over 30 countries — making it the largest festival since the dawn of its establishment. Between March 11 to 27, 2019 The festival celebrated its 10 year anniversary spanning three cities; Beijing, Chengdu, Suzhou, Ningbo and Shanghai, hosting around 300 events , book talks, panel discussions, performances, workshops , children’s events , comedy, screenings, and a strong bilingual element. The China Future Perfect series of panel discussions was another feature which was introduced as a platform for constructive debate and exchange of ideas. The discussions centered mostly around key topics and issues, including the environment, civil society, regional stability, economy, film, art, and religion.
However, perhaps the most sentimental event of the occasion was at the closing of the festival. It would prove to be not only my last reading in Beijing, but also marked the end of an error: with the closing of the book store just a few months later, along with my last performance with Yang Wenliang and The Spittoon. It therefore felt rather fitting to perform My first poem: The Night is an Old Friend, as well as incorporate some of the vocals Wenliang and I composed for Beijing’s Short Film Festival.