In celebration of its 20th anniversary, the annual Literary Festival of the International Writers’ Workshop (IWW) of Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) was held from 11 to 13 March 2024. Sponsored by the Hung Hin Shiu Charitable Foundation, this year’s festival has adopted “Origins & Futures” as its theme to explore the IWW’s 20-year history and future directions, including the use of emerging technologies in creative writing.  

Four selected Writers-in-Residence participated in the Festival, namely Ms. Ana Merino, Spanish fiction writer and poet; Mr. Ronnie Scott, Australian fiction writer; Mr. Gabriel Awuah Mainoo, Ghanian poet; and Mr. Azam Abidov, Uzbek poet.  

Besides, the Festival brought together eight special guests to engage in a series of events. They included Professor Chung Ling, Founder of IWW and former Dean of Arts at HKBU; Mr. Christopher Merrill, Director of the International Writing Programme of the University of Iowa, as well as six previous Writers-in-Residence from IWW and Chinese Writers’ Workshop.  

The IWW also held a celebration dinner to mark its 20th anniversary, which was attended by a number of HKBU representatives, including Professor Ng Ching Fai, GBS, President Emeritus; Dr. Albert Chau, Vice-President (Teaching and Learning) and Acting Dean of Arts; Professor Eva Man, Professor Emeritus of the Academy of Film; Professor Stuart Christie, Executive Associate Dean of Arts and Director of IWW; Mr. James Shea, Associate Director of IWW; and Mrs. Lily Chan, Director of University Advancement and Secretary-General of the HKBU Foundation.  

Founded in 2004, the IWW remains one of the signature programmes of the Faculty of Arts at HKBU. For nearly 20 years, the IWW has hosted over 140 writers from more than 55 different countries, and it is one of the few writers-in-residence programmes in Asia. As a self-funded organisation, the daily operating expenses of IWW come from the donations from sponsors, the University and the Faculty of Arts.