The Early Bird Gets the Bookworm Festival Tickets!

Marilyn Mai | Jan 30, 2012 10:00 am | 2 comments | 2675 reads

All, it’s that time of year again: The Bookworm International Literary Festival (BLF) is drawing near, bringing authors of great acclaim to our humble town. We hear some people mark their calendars for this event and, even though they’ve left Beijing years ago, plan two-week vacations to come back and attend the festival. (!!) It’s quite the shindig, and each year the authors and events just keep getting better.

Early bird tickets for the BLF went on sale this morning at 9am at The Bookworm and most years, several of the best events get sold out within hours, so if you’re jonesing to see Gary Shteyngart (and hear his is-it-real-or-is-it-fake Russian accent), you might want to see about those tickets ASAP.

So, who qualifies for early bird tickets? That would be sponsors of the festival, as well as the mysterious “Friends of the Festival,” which we asked The Bookworm to explain (we held out hopes for happy-looking hippies coming over a hill in floral prints to the tune of “That’s What Friends Are For,” but no, that’s not what they’re talking about).

Apparently, the FotF designation refers to those who are generous enough to donate funds in support of each year's BLF. In return, you get access to early bird ticket sales, invitations to schmooze with authors at special VIP events, your name listed on The Bookworm’s website and, according to the BLF organizers, “Great literary karma!” (Right, I’ll believe that one when I get my book deal. Well, first I guess I'd have to become a sponsor ... )

Here are the sponsorship levels:

1st Edition: 5,000rmb
Gold Leaf: 1,000 rmb
Leather Bound: 500rmb

Those eager for the early bird advantage can show up at the bookshop (9am to 9pm), butter ‘em up with your donation and then purchase tickets for whatever you like. Then when the time comes, you can stroll past the rest of us sitting on the waiting list for The Economist Panel and yell, “Neener, suckers!”

(For a complete list of this year's events, click here. And for our tips on which events to watch out for and which are likely to sell out early, stay tuned to this blog.)

Now, if being a Friend of the Festival is too rich for your blood, tickets will go on sale to the general public starting Feb 6. Til then: keep smilin’, keep shinin’ …

Photos: www.idontwannagrowup.com, http://troll.me

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marilynmai's picture marilynmai Submitted by Guest on Mon, 01/30/2012 - 15:47

Hi jadarite,
Your bring up a valid point. I guess some more background info might have been useful:

The Bookworm International Literary Festival is an annual event here in Beijing. There are usually dozens of author talks, panels, discussions, workshops, etc. taking place over a span of about two weeks.

Ticket prices are for admission to the events themselves and usually include one free drink, but not the book or books related to the event. You will usually have the option of buying the book separately. (All this info is at bookwormfestival.com, which I linked to in the post.)

Also, if you clicked on the link to the Bookworm Festival's site, you should have found a list of events, each listing its date, time and location. The main venue will be The Bookworm itself, which is a bookstore located in on Sanlitun Nanjie, south of the Village in Sanlitun. That's also where you can go to buy tickets for any of the festival's events. (As mentioned in the post, early bird tickets are on sale this week, but tickets go on sale to the general public on Feb 6.)

Hope that helps.

jadarite's picture jadarite Submitted by Guest on Mon, 01/30/2012 - 12:52

Can you explain when this event is? I don't see an actual start date, just times to buy "tickets". Also, when I went to the site to see details, it had prices like 80 RMB. What is this for? Can we get the book or are there additional fees? When I looked for an address/location I saw several maps with contact info. Does this mean there are several events taking place or is there one central location? Please clarify, thanks.

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