ESEA Lit Fest 2024

The UK's award-winning East and South East Asian literary festival returns to Foyles Charing Cross Road on Saturday 21 September 2024! Join us for a day full to the brim with conversation, readings and workshops, hosted in partnership with the ESEA Publishing Network.

This year's thought-provoking and celebratory programme includes panel discussions, in-conversation events, creative writing and translation workshops featuring some of the most exciting voices in literature from ESEA writers in the UK and across the world.

The ESEA Publishing Network was founded in 2022 to amplify the voices of East and South East Asian writers and promote ESEA talent working across the UK publishing industry. The UK's first East and South East Asian literary festival was hosted at Foyles in September 2023. We're delighted to present this year's festival programme, with the support of the Bagri Foundation, Paper Literary agency and Hachette UK and their employee network THRIVE.

IMPORTANT TICKET INFORMATION

Tickets are available for individual events or a Day Ticket allows you entry to all four of the day’s panel discussions. Please note that a Day Ticket does not include entry to the two workshops (for which you can buy separate tickets available via the links below). Student/Low Income Tickets are reserved for students with a valid ID or those in receipt of Universal Credit or on low income.

10 – 11am

Women’s Prize Discoveries Creative Writing Workshop with Claire Kohda and Stephanie Scott

Fifth Floor, Foyles Charing Cross Road

Kick off the day by honing your creative writing skills with acclaimed novelists Claire Kohda and Stephanie Scott, in an intimate workshop organised in partnership with Discoveries, the Women’s Prize’s writer development programme.

Tickets available here (Not included with a Festival Day Ticket)

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11am – 12pm

Alternate Universes: On healing and imagination with Romalyn Ante and Yeji Y Ham in conversation with Tash Aw

Sixth Floor, Foyles Charing Cross Road

Thinking outside reality, Romalyn Ante and Yeji Y. Ham discuss the power of imagining as a way to consider history, trauma and how to exist in the present. They’ll be joined by internationally acclaimed writer and critic Tash Aw.

Included in a Festival Day Ticket or buy a single event ticket here.

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12.15 – 1.15pm

Things We Never Knew: On silence and generational trauma with Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai and Hanako Footman in conversation with Nicole Ocran

Sixth Floor, Foyles Charing Cross Road

Hanako Footman and Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai discuss the reverberations of generational silence, the fractures left in families, and complex, mixed identities. They’ll be in conversation with author and podcaster Nicole Ocran.

Included in a Festival Day Ticket or buy a single event ticket here.

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1:30 – 2:30pm

'Chew on this': Creative translation workshop + snacks with Tilted Axis Press and Thuận

Fifth Floor, Foyles Charing Cross Road

Come eat! Radical publishers Tilted Axis Press invite you to join writer Thuận and TAP’s own Trà My Hickin for a discussion on creative translation, decolonising language, and a deep dive into poetry from Southeast Asia, accompanied by snacks.

Tickets available here (Not included with a Festival Day Ticket)

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1:30 – 3pm

'Have you eaten?' A charity buffet lunch with The Adobros & friends

Sixth Floor, Foyles Charing Cross Road

A buffet of light eats and treats provided by Mark Corbyn of The Adobros and some of his favourite ESEA foodie friends, with all funds donated to Migrateful, a charity that celebrates refugees and migrants on their journey to integration by supporting them to run their own cookery classes. Come eat!

First come, first served - unticketed event, all proceeds donated to Migrateful

3:15 – 4:15pm

Far from Home: On duty and displacement with Thuận & Yan Ge in conversation with Ian Russell-Hsieh

Sixth Floor, Foyles Charing Cross Road

Join Yan Ge and Thuận on a voyage away from home, discussing the commitments we make to ourselves and those closest to us, and how far these journeys can take us. They’ll be joined by writer Ian Russell-Hsieh.

Included in a Festival Day Ticket or buy a single event ticket here.

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4.30 – 5.30pm

Red Tape: On institutions and Britishness with Xiaolu Guo and Kaliane Bradley in conversation with Rebecca Liu

Sixth Floor, Foyles Charing Cross Road

What does Britishness mean, anyway? Kaliane Bradley and Xiaolu Guo unpack the institutions, conventions and customs that make up the country, and our places within them, with journalist Rebecca Liu.

Included in a Festival Day Ticket or buy a single event ticket here.

Host or Publisher Foyles Bookshop, 107 Charing Cross Road