It's book club week!

This July, as Summer makes its presence felt (and boy, do we feel it), we're picking up Nicole Mones' The Last Chinese Chef. A light read on topics we love to discuss -- China, Chinese food, cooking and love -- this book goes right to the ... Read more »

Emerging from politically generated obscurity of a different kind was Lijia Zhang, a former Nanjing rocket-factory worker who spent 10 years among 10,000 comrades effectively incarcerated in the "iron rice bowl" of the state employee. The effusive Zhang, now following the literary festival circuit in support of her memoir ... Read more »

You've all heard about it, you've probably read it, cried over it and you may have even seen the movie. Now, TALK ABOUT IT!

Join us in Figaro Café this 15th of June, Sunday at 4pm for a discussion on this highly-acclaimed novel (and much contested movie). We ... Read more »

Spring is here and we're ready for some change, so this coming May, the Shanghai Book Club is running away with the circus and we're all getting some Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen.

Here's more on the book from amazon.com:

[The story's main character ... Read more »

Here it is, the entire playlist of all the talks at the SILF (in the Glamour Bar) that we could record. Now you can easily listen to or download them all for your iPod listening pleasure. We marked some the podcasts that we thought were particularly good, but feel free ... Read more »

5:15 | One More to Go

Session ends, folks are rising and chatting, getting ready to head downstairs for the last event of the festival.

5:11 | Popular Culture

So far, while some of the audience members are very well versed in the works of these two authors (more so ... Read more »

Click on the player below to listen to the podcast talk or read CW's live blogging with Geremie Barme: Book Launch: Forbidden City.

Click here to save part one mp3 to your computer. Part two is here. Audio courtesy of the Glamour Bar. Sound recording by Tom Lee Pettersen ... Read more »

12:35 | Let's Write About Sex

“There’s a lot of sex in literature. And, there’s a lot of interesting critiques of sexuality and the market in literature,” says Farrer. He discusses one book by Yu Hua that he’s read. One of the lead characters (an affluent ... Read more »

3:13 | So Much Fun "Thank you!" exclaims Vittachi as the crowd applauses enthusiastically. This was, hands down, the most fun we've had during a SILF session.

3:07 | I'm Yin, You? Vittachi asks if there's time for a fengshui exercise, and after a nod from Tina ... Read more »

Click on the player below to listen to the podcast talk or read City Weekend's live blog reporting with Howard Goldblatt: "Book Launch: Wolf Totem".

Click here to save the mp3 to your computer.

Audio courtesy of the Glamour Bar. Sound recording by Tom Lee Pettersen at Meta Music ... Read more »

4:59pm | Q&A

Q: Would you say Mao was a good writer?

A: "Well, the young Mao was."

Q: How does a good writer go down hill?

A: He stops writing … he wrote great stuff when he was working in Hunan … he wrote obsessively thorough work when he was ... Read more »

Click on the player below to listen to the podcast talk or read CW's live blogging with Hari Kunzru: My Revolutions.

Click here to save the mp3 to your computer. Audio courtesy of the Glamour Bar. Sound recording by Tom Lee Pettersen at Meta Music Media.

4:04 | The ... Read more »

Click on the player below to listen to the podcast talk or read CW's live blogging with Justin Hill—China’s First Feminist: Yu Xuanji and the Tang Dynasty.

Click here to the mp3 to your computer. Audio courtesy of the Glamour Bar. Sound recording by Tom Lee Pettersen ... Read more »

1:03 | Lunchtime "I hear stomachs rumbling, " says moderator Jimmy as the crowd stifles an embarrassed chuckle. He thanks Madeleine for coming up from Hong Kong to speak to us, for sharing a part of the Canadian culture, and the session wraps. Madeleine smiles, takes one final sip from her ... Read more »

Click on the player below to listen to the podcast talk or read City Weekend's live blog reporting with Rob Gifford: China Road: "A Journey into the Future of a Rising Power".

Click here to save the mp3 to your computer.

Audio courtesy of the Glamour Bar. Sound recording ... Read more »

Click on the player below to listen to the podcast talk or read City Weekend's live blog reporting with Anne Enright: "The Man Booker Prize Talk".

Click here to save the mp3 to your computer.

Audio courtesy of the Glamour Bar. Sound recording by Tom Lee Pettersen at Meta ... Read more »

Man, we’re getting good at this. (We think). For those of you too lazy or too busy to have attended the Shanghai International Literary Festival (SILF) last weekend or if you’re just dying to get more, Shanghai Editors, Trista Baldwin, Emily Chu and Jessica Beaton attended every one ... Read more »

Do I need to register to become a book club member?

There is no need to register. You only have to show up for the book club meeting to join.

Do I need to pay for anything?

Aside from purchasing your book, just your own coffee and/or meal during ... Read more »

This month, the Shanghai Book Club will be sticking our noses into Ian McEwan's best-selling novel turned Oscar-nominated movie, ATONEMENT.

We've been hearing raves about it for a while. Then it topped last year's best-seller lists. And now, a top-billed movie too.

Now, we're really intrigued ... Read more »

Click on the player below to listen to the podcast talk or read CW's live blogging with Arundhati Roy and Pankaj Mishra: India in the World: Arundhati Roy in Coversation with Pankaj Mishraclick.

Click here to save the mp3 to your computer. Audio courtesy of the Glamour Bar. Sound ... Read more »

4:14 | Democratizing Caste

"Democracy is supposed to be a liberating force, but in India democracy is being taken over by caste," says Kremmer. "Maybe it works, maybe it's just a different way of doing democracy. Maybe it's using the political process to address age-old social injustice." Optimism ... Read more »

3:12 | Ireland and Shanghai

An audience member asks for Creedon and Murphy's reflections on Shanghai after having spent a few days here. They're both amazed by the "total fearlessness" of Shanghai's architecture, how there can be gothic historical architecture on one side of the river facing ... Read more »

Click on the player below to listen to the podcast talk or read City Weekend's live blog reporting with James Fallows.

Click here to save part one to your computer. Click here for part two.

Audio courtesy of the Glamour Bar. Sound recording by Tom Lee Pettersen at Meta ... Read more »