Two authors and their translators discuss novels that employ myth, monsters and fantasy to reflect reality through the surreal, and consider how in fantastical fiction, translation can create an ambiguous space between authenticity and artificiality. Yan Ge is the author of 13 books and was named by People’s Literature magazine as one of twenty future literature masters in China. Her latest book published in English is Strange Beasts of China《異獸志》, in a translation by Singaporean writer Jeremy Tiang. In a departure from her usual realist style, it depicts a fictional Chinese town where human beings live alongside spirits and monsters, some of which are almost indistinguishable from people. They are joined by one of Hong Kong’s most acclaimed writers, Dorothy Tse, whose novel Owlish and the Music-Box Ballerina《鷹頭貓與音樂箱女孩》was published this year, and is currently being translated into English by Natascha Bruce. The tale of a middle-aged professor’s doomed love affair with a doll called Alice, it also tells the story of Hong Kong, and beneath the humor and fairytale romance, the familiar city is recast in surreal, carnivalesque, sometimes menacing ways.

Online: 10 Nov, 7:30-8:30 (UTC +8, HKT), HK$ 50. Book tickets.