Festivals for All! Capital M, Bookworm, HK Film, Caochangdi

The Capital M Literary Festival is starting this weekend, the first in a long train of cultural celebrations that include the Bookworm International Literary Festival (of course), the Hong Kong International Film Festival (starting March 20), and Art Beijing (April). Also, nominees were just announced for the annual Three Shadows Photography Award, which culminates in the Caochangdi Photospring in late April. Whew! Get your eyes and ears ready for talks, discussions, and viewings galore!

Capital M's very first literary festival opens this Friday night. The M Restaurant Group has already been hosting a more built-out festival in Shanghai, but this is their Beijing venue's first foray into the lit fest scene in our fair city (well, fairer today now that the wind came through).

This weekend, you can catch Booker Prize-winning author Thomas Keneally (Schindler's List!), journalist Megan Stack (frontline headlines!), and noir novelist Kim Young-ha (suicide! immigration! espionage!), and that's just the start. We'll keep you updated on highlights, and give you inside scoops and author interviews in the coming week.

For program and ticket information, go here.

And of course, it'll be hard to turn down the scrumpdiddlyumptiousness that presides within Capital M's sexy walls. Hey man, reading - and talking about reading - is hard work! Saturdays and Sundays, the kitchen will be serving up Brunch (RMB 258), Literary Set meals (RMB 158) and Afternoon Tea (138), with Box Lunches available all day (RMB 50). Yum tum yummy tum day.

And who's this, you ask? Forgive me, how rude I've been! Allow me to introduce the playful, the indomitable ... Puppet Kid! Yes, the mascot of the Hong Kong International Film Festival (are mascots de rigueur for film fests?!) is a cartwheeling humanoid designed by acclaimed Hollywood animator Raman Hui, known by his fellow Hong Kongers as the "Father of Shrek." Cute, isn't he? (Puppet Kid, not Shrek. Though he's not bad himself, if you're into that kind of thing ...)

The Festival's full program (which doesn't kick off until March 20) will be announced later today, though some already highlighted events include regional focuses on Romania, Vietnam, and America, a Masterclass by Jia Zhangke and a series of newly digitally restored classics.

Tickets can be purchased online (at the link above sometime after 3pm today), so you can make early plans for a weekend trip down south if you're so inclined. Now you can add the HKIFF to the list of excuses to go to Hong Kong besides: visa renewal, mango desserts, dim sum and clean(er) air.

Also,the 2011 Three Shadows Photography Awards kicked off in late January with the announcement of this year's 20 contenders. They include He Xiaohua (work pictured above), Yang Nannan (below), and Ren Hang (whose textured black and whites just graced the UCCA's "Curated by ..." Series).

This year's TSPA also includes a Shiseido Prize for Female Photographers. Caochangdi Photospring will open on April 23 alongside the awards ceremony for the TSPA and the opening of the TSPA exhibit.

In all the festival madness, we'll be packing our blog with author interviews, reviews, and the like, so check back often.