A private Literary Salon, co-hosted by Simon Westcott, CEO of LUXE City Guides & Anjali Nihalchand, Founder of Pollination Projects, for a very special evening with guest of honour, Hanya Yanagihara, author of award-winning A Little Life.
The evening brought about an amazing chance to hear from the author of one of the most talked about books of the last year. A Little Life is by turns exhilarating, touching, heartbreaking, real, fantastical and razor sharp.
The exclusive ticketed dinner took place during the Hong Kong International Literary Festival with the intention to foster a community of like-minded individuals intent on broadening and deepening the cultural life of Hong Kong and to raise funds for the continued efforts of the annual festival. HK$20,000 was raised among 38 attendees.
Hanya Yanagihara is one of America’s most exciting young novelists, in large part because she refuses to hew to convention. She lives in New York City. Yanagihara was also selected as a finalist for the 2015 National Book Award in Fiction for A Little Life.
“Thank you so much for hosting such a wonderful event last evening! Everything was perfect— the food was incredible and Hanya was eloquent, poised, and witty. I really enjoyed meeting everyone at our table, and it was refreshing to be surrounded by like-minded readers who didn’t attempt to steer a conversation about books back to the latest TV series after ten minutes. ” – Laura
“It’s the start of something really exciting, seamless in its organisation, professional yet personal. All thanks to the two of you very firmly in control of the details of the evening in a lovely warm and personal way. Simon, you are a brilliant moderator, I could see Hanya felt so at ease in conversation with you. I’m sure everyone left like me, in a state of euphoria!” – Joanna
“It was a true privilege – and great pleasure – to be there last night, delicious authentic food, agreeable company and marvelous and inspiring speakers.And of course to have met Hanya. It was a magical evening.” – Nicole
“THANK YOU so much for putting on a great evening for us all. Hanya was amazing, so eloquent, so interesting and inspiring. Simon was a brilliant too. I so enjoyed it. It was an unexpectedly good all round, well done!” – Sophie
“We were so lucky to be part of it and you so magically brought us the magnificent Hanya.. bravo to the wonderful duo, who whipped us all in shape and made us tackle the 800 pages of a masterpiece emotional rollercoaster. I hope Hanya got the gist of how in awe of her her audience was.” – Sandra
“Hugest thanks and respect for all your efforts in putting together the most fabulous evening of feasting and friends new and old and of course the utterly extraordinary Hanya. Was blown away by her brilliance and can’t wait to get my mitts on it and finally read it. A very special and inspirational evening and huge thanks for including me. I can’t wait for the next one.” – Mandy
