Hong Kong book fair subdued after bookseller disappearances

Caution evident in buying and selling of politically sensitive material amid fears of growing repression from mainland’s Communist partyThe 2016 Hong Kong book fair, the most important event in the city’s literary calendar, opened its doors on Wednesday to familiar long queues and hordes of special security personnel on watch for potential stampedes. Inside, it was business as usual: a large convention hall divided into genres, with one large area just for religious publishers, complete with saffron-robed monks writing calligraphy and dispensing blessings. Media types gathered on the first floor where a local starlet in a low-cut dress posed for photographers in front of a stand devoted to fashion books and magazines.But this year is the first fair held in Hong Kong since the disappearances of five booksellers from the city in late 2015. For many visitors, the attention is squarely on the few publishers still willing to sell “forbidden books”. What has happened to the five men has profoundly shaken Hong Kong’s book trade: Gui Minhai, owner of the Mighty Current publishing house and the Causeway Bay Books shop, remains in detention in mainland China after having disappeared from his holiday house in Thailand in October 2015, only to reappear in a tearful televised confession in January 2016. Mighty Current editor Lee Bo was also reportedly abducted from Hong Kong and later reappeared in March, as did manager Lui Por. Just two days later, business manager Cheung Chi-ping... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2016-07-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #fashion books #hong kong #book trade #gui minhai #holiday house

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Hong Kong book fair subdued after bookseller disappearances

Caution evident in buying and selling of politically sensitive material amid fears of growing repression from mainland’s Communist partyThe 2016 Hong Kong book fair, the most important event in the city’s literary calendar, opened its doors on Wednesday to familiar long queues and hordes of... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2016-07-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hong Kong publishers excluded from book fair over politically sensitive material

At least three booksellers say they were banned from the annual jamboree as the city embarks on ‘new form of censorship’Hong Kong publishers have decried a “new form of censorship” after vendors selling books deemed politically sensitive were allegedly excluded from the industry’s traditional... Continue reading at The Guardian

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Self-censorship hits Hong Kong book fair in wake of national security law

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Missing Hong Kong booksellers: US 'disturbed' by disappearances

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Book Groups Voice Concern About Hong Kong Booksellers

Five book industry organizations issued a statement expressing "extreme concern” about the mysterious disappearance of five employees of a Hong Kong publishing and bookselling company. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

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Hong Kong book bans are 'extremely concerning', says IPA

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Hong Kong bookseller sentenced to 10 years in prison in China

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China Sentences Hong Kong Bookseller Gui Minhai to 10 Years in Prison

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China Sentences Hong Kong Bookseller to 10 Years in Prison

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Booksellers Without Borders Names Book Fair Scholarships to Frankfurt, Torino, Guadalajara

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Missing Hong Kong bookseller shortlisted for the Prix Voltaire

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In Hong Kong's book industry, 'everybody is scared'

Hong Kong used to be a place of relatively free speech in China, but that was before Xi Jinping’s crackdown. Now everybody from writers to booksellers, publishers and printers fear they will be next to ‘disappear’Just over a year after five publishers and booksellers disappeared from Hong Kong... Continue reading at The Guardian

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'It's like they were selling heroin to schoolkids': censorship hits booksellers at Kuwait book fair

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