Kate Whitehead

At the quiet end of Gough Street, in Hong Kong’s Central district, stands a pocket-sized shop easily overlooked. A wooden bench outside tempts passers-by to pause, and if you peek through the picture window, you’ll likely catch a glimpse of two chocolatiers perfecting their craft. Hakawa Chocolate is one of just five bean-to-bar makers in Hong…

The Hong Kong International Literary Festival speaker, who won a Pulitzer Prize for The Orphan Master’s Son, talks about his lonely childhood and why his stories tend to veer towards the bizarre

‘My mother was a typical Asian parent. She lost her dream because of the Cultural Revolution,’ says Yu Dan Shi. ‘I became the product of high expectations’ In 2008, Yu Dan Shi was 32 and a successful marketing officer for a global tech company. She had left her native Shanghai over a decade previously to…

Everyone who’s worked in a large organisation will have their own story of a senior individual whose academic prowess was outdone only by their inability to communicate with their peers. We might write off such an employee as simply not being a ‘people person’. But, according to its adherents, what they’re really suffering from is…

Boycott of next month’s Irrawaddy Literary Festival announced by one guest over Muslim minority humanitarian crisis, while another, Lonely Planet’s Tony Wheeler, accuses its patron, Aung San Suu Kyi, of not saying enough about it

Local favourites joined by overseas comedians for ninth annual show