New | Literature lovers camp out overnight as Hong Kong Book Fair begins

Hundreds of bookworms queued up in Wan Chai on Wednesday morning for Hong Kong’s biggest annual book fair, with some having camped out overnight to be among the first to hit the booths.

The Hong Kong Book Fair, which has run for the past quarter of a century, is open from today until next Tuesday at the Convention and Exhibition Centre. There are 570 exhibitors from 31 countries and regions.

A themed exhibition focuses on Hong Kong's publishing history. Visitors can see examples of old printing and historical books or take a closer look at more recent publications from the past two decades.

They can take home copies of magazines published in the 1970s and 80s, including popular women's magazines with erotic covers but conservative romantic stories inside. They can also pose for photographs at a mock-up bookstore modelled on the first branch of The Commercial Press, which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year.

This year the key international authors coming to town will be Susan Barker, whose new book The Incarnations was released last week; Lawrence Osborne, who recently released his second novel, Ballad of a Small Player; Barbara Demick, who is best known for the book on North Korea, Nothing to Envy; and French writers Francois Dremeaux and David Foenkinos.

Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor took a break from fielding criticism about her report on political reform to kick off the biggest event on the city's literary calendar.

Some of those who queued overnight were students fresh from receiving their Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) exam results on Monday.