Meet Authors
Fuchsia Dunlop 扶霞
20th of March 2024, we meet the author of Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper, Fuchsia Dunlop in Charring Cross Library.
Fuchsia is a cook and food-writer specialising in Chinese cuisine. In the 1990s, She went to live in the Sichuanese capital, Chengdu, and ended up taking a professional chef’s training course at the Sichuan Higher Institute of Cuisine. Since then, for the last three decades, she has continued her explorations both of Sichuanese food a and of Chinese cuisine more broadly. She has won various awards for her writing, including four James Beard Awards in the United States, Fortnum and Mason Cookbook of the Year (2020), Guild of Food Writers Food Writer of the Year (2022), The Kate Whiteman Award (2009, 2013) The Andre Simon Award (2017), the IACP Jane Grigson Award (2009). She was also shortlisted for the Art of Eating Prize in 2017.
Fuchia was autographing copies of her books for the readers in attendance.
As a token of appreciation, our club Chairperson and the event host presented Fuchia with a surprise gift.
The event featuring Fuchia marked our inaugural occasion open to non-members, and it quickly reached full capacity. Her engaging talk was filled with inspiration and laughter, making it a truly delightful and unforgettable morning for everyone involved.
Xinran
Xuē Xīnrán (薛欣然, pen name Xinran, born in Beijing in 1958) is a British-Chinese journalist, author, speaker, and advocate for women's issues. She was a popular radio personality in China with a call-in program named "Words on the Night Breeze" from 1989 to 1997. The program focused on women's issues and life stories. She was well known for travelling extensively in China to interview women for her work. In 1997, she moved to London and began writing stories of the women she met along her journeys. Her first book, The Good Women of China, was published in 2002, becoming an international bestseller. She shared a Zoom talk with our club about her books.
BANG WANG
Wang has published 10 books in China & France, including a short story collection Journey to Absence, in July 2022, which was selected for the top ten Chinese fiction books of 2022 by Asia Weekly. She has also written a film script, The Dream Cages, which won the award for the Best Feature Drama at the NYIFF in 2011 in New York. Her Chinese work have been published in Chutzpah, Guggenheim Art Museum, Chinese Literature Today (University of Oklahoma Press), Words Without Borders, Hua Cheng Literary Magazine, HK Literature, The Best Selected Work of Chinese Literature of the Month, etc. She meet us in Charing Cross Library 2022 to talk about her latest books.
Guo Yue
Guo Yue is a virtuoso of the dizi (Chinese bamboo flute) and bawu (Chinese free reed pipe). He plays a wide range of the bamboo flute and currently lives in London. He has recorded for Peter Gabriel's Real World label. He is also dedicated to cooking, and has found ways of combining cookery with flute playing at some of his concerts. He shared his passion with us in Charing Cross Library, 2022