This year’s Hong Kong Book Fair wants to take you places
Armchair travellers can look forward to seminars and exhibitions by well-known travel writers featuring photos, travelogues and souvenirs
Travel is the big topic at this year’s Hong Kong Book Fair, one of the largest of its kind in the world, with organisers offering a mix of travel books and photography, combining some of Hongkongers’ favourite hobbies.
Besides featuring well-known travel writers through seminars, photographs, a souvenir exhibition and travelogues, a section of the fair will also be devoted to award-winning photographs from National Geographic, showcasing pictures taken both locally and overseas.
But while many people reach for their cameras to record memorable journeys, writer Kam Ling insists that reading offers a unique experience that cannot be rivalled by pictorial media.
“Words are symbols that each reader can interpret differently. If I were writing about my experience in a Tokyo coffee shop, with a gentle ray of sunshine coming through the soft curtains, each reader would have a unique experience when reading,” said Kam, who has written 39 travel books and will be holding a talk on her visit to Iceland during the fair.
“The window may be on the left-hand side or right-hand side, and the colour of the coffee cup will be different, and the wall will be different for each reader. So reading a travel story gives you a personal experience that you cannot find elsewhere.”
