Please join us for an informal dinner with authors Frances Hardinge (left) and Holly Thompson (right). Holly and Frances are guest authors at the Hong Kong International Young Readers Festival. The evening will provide the opportunity for us to get together with both writers and other WiPS members over a sit-down meal in the Burton Room at the FCC and to hear about Holly’s experience as a writer and teacher of creative writing living in Japan and talk with Frances about her writing career. This dinner is limited to WiPS members and their guests.
Holly Thompson is a longtime resident of Japan and author of the verse novels Falling into the Dragon’s Mouth, The Language Inside and Orchards, the novel Ash and picture books Twilight Chant, One Wave at a Time, and The Wakame Gatherers. A graduate of the NYU Creative Writing Program, she writes poetry, fiction and nonfiction for children, teens and adults, and teaches creative writing in Japan, the U.S., and places in between.
Frances Hardinge spent her childhood in a huge old house that inspired her to write strange stories from an early age. She read English at Oxford University, then got a job at a software company. However, by this time a persistent friend had finally managed to bully Frances into sending a few chapters of Fly By Night, her first children’s novel, to a publisher. Macmillan made her an immediate offer. The book went on to publish to huge critical acclaim and win the Branford Boase First Novel Award. Known for her beautiful use of language, she has since written many critically acclaimed novels, including Verdigris Deep, Cuckoo Song, the Costa Award-winning The Lie Tree and most recently A Skinful of Shadows. (Photo credit: David Levenson)