Xiaolu Guo; I Am China

‘a book so piercingly urgent and relevant it is as if Guo has not so much published it as pressed it into your hand the very moment after writing the final sentence.’ (The Independent)

If you can’t decide which Book Festival events to come and see, here is something to wet your appetite from the press -- some glowing reviews of books featured in our programme.

Xiaolu Guo; I Am China ; ‘a book so piercingly urgent and relevant it is as if Guo has not so much published it as pressed it into your hand the very moment after writing the final sentence.’ (The Independent)

In 2010, the Chinese writer Liao Yiwu wrote an open letter to Angela Merkel, to express his deep disappointment that the Chinese authorities had prevented him from travelling to Germany to take part in a programme of literary events. In his letter, he imagines himself visiting Germany, but returning to China: "It is unimaginable," he wrote, "that a writer would be able to do anything once he has left the place of his mother tongue." 

1. I Am China
2. by Xiaolu Guo
3. 

1. Tell us what you think:Star-rate and review this book

Liao is now in exile in Germany after escaping from China on foot in 2011, and perhaps he might find comfort in the examples of other Chinese writers who, despite having left the place of their mother tongue, remain engaged and prolific artists. Some of them, such as the novelist Ma Jian, continue to write in Chinese; others, such as Xiaolu Guo, who has lived in Britain since 2002, now write in English.

Just click on the link to read the full review: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jun/28/i-am-china-xiaolu-guo-review-novel

You can see Xiaolu Guo with Kamila Shamsie at Mountains to Sea Book Festival on Saturday, September 13th at 6.30pm, £10 (£8)