14 independent publishers to join alternative book festival after some banned from Hong Kong Book Fair
Leticia Wong, owner of Hunter Bookstore, said at a press conference on Sunday that the bookshop will co-host 'Reading Everywhere – Hong Kong Independent Book Fair and Bookstore Festival' from Thursday to Sunday, alongside other independent bookstores and publishers.
While the book show will be held at Hunter, a series of talks on new titles will take place at different bookstores, Wong said.
The exhibitors include Boundary Bookstore, an independent bookstore that began publishing in 2022; One Book Half, a publisher focusing on LGBTQ issues; and Bbluesky, a publisher established in 2000.
The independent book fair has been held annually since 2023, and this year's event is set to attract the most participants.
'This year's book fair will be the largest in scale,' Wong said in Cantonese. 'It's probably because [the publishers] gained more confidence in this event after successfully organising it over the past two years.'
Wong organised the independent book fair for the first time in 2023, inviting publishers who were excluded from the official Hong Kong Book Fair in 2022.
Five publishers took part in 2023, while last year, the event attracted 10 participants.
Hunter Bookstore is not charging the participants, said Wong. 'We want to make it simple, just providing a venue to showcase titles from different publishers.'
Last year, however, the independent book fair was under pressure from government inspections. The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) visited Hunter one day before opening, saying that the department had received a complaint over the use of the bookstore as a place of public entertainment without a required licence.
Wong said Hunter Bookstore did not apply for that licence this year. 'The book fair is just selling books from different independent publishers, and that's what we are allowed to do as a bookstore,' Wong said.
According to a survey conducted by Boundary Bookstore, the main distribution channels of Hong Kong independent publishers are online platforms and independent bookstores.
Chan Wai-hung, founder of publisher Eleven Six Workshop, told journalists on Sunday that they published books on renowned novelist Jin Yong, written by prominent pro-democracy figure Margaret Ng.
While the topics of the books are not related to politics, Chan said two local bookstore chains refused to sell them, with one citing 'legal concerns.'
Banned from Hong Kong Book Fair
Organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), the Hong Kong Book Fair 2025 will be held from Wednesday to Tuesday at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai.
Founded in 1990, the Hong Kong Book Fair is the city's largest fair showcasing a wide range of publishers and titles. However, it has been accused of 'censorship' over the past several years, following the enactment of the Beijing-imposed national security law in June 2020.
In 2022, the HKTDC turned down applications from at least three independent booksellers, Hillway Press, One of a Kind, and Humming Publishing. They had published books with the 2019 pro-democracy protests and unrest as their theme.
In 2024, at least three exhibitors – Boundary Bookstore, Bbluesky, and one that refused to disclose its name – told HKFP that the HKTDC asked them to remove certain titles from the shelves.
This year, the same three independent local publishers confirmed to HKFP that they had been barred from participating in the Hong Kong Book Fair 2025.
In response to HKFP's enquiry about book removal, the HKTDC said on Friday that all exhibitors must comply with the Exhibitors' Manual and Rules & Regulations, as well as other Hong Kong laws, including the Hong Kong National Security Law, the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, the Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinance, and laws related to intellectual property.
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