Faces of JUE: Kadi Hughes Talks Literature

In our March issue, we talked to seven personalities of the JUE Festival to tell us more about each of the seven elements of JUE. Kadi Hughes reveals what more is in store for The Bookworm Literary Festival.

I don’t think that literature is a stuffy thing just for intellectuals. Things that are entertaining and for-the-masses, like performance poetry or stand-up, are just as important as really intense intellectual conversations.

I’m really looking forward to the translation slam. We take a text and have two different people translate it into English, and then compare the text. Usually the text is tawdry language, song lyrics, a film dialogue or something that’s particularly difficult or almost impenetrable for non-Chinese speakers. This year we’re doing crosstalk (xiangsheng). Comedy writing is becoming really important for us at BLF, and crosstalk obviously falls under that category in China. Also, even if you speak Chinese, crosstalk is impossible! So we’ll have two performers perform against each other in both Chinese and then their English translation, and then we’re going to dissect how you translate humor and if you can actually translate humor.

We’re really lucky in Beijing to have such an embarrassment of riches in March. We have the best literary writers in the world come to Beijing and speak to you and 100 other people, for almost nothing. Some of the best bands in China and the world are coming here and gigging. Amazing films are coming in, more artists are being shown … We’re really, really lucky to have all that.

Don’t miss the crosstalk Translation Slam at The Bookworm on Mar 21.