COFFEE TALK | Across Borders, Belief and Exile with Lawrence Osborne

Wed Mar 04 2026 at 03:00 pm to 04:00 pm UTC+08:00

Soho House Hong Kong | Hong Kong

Hong Kong International Literary Festival
Publisher/HostHong Kong International Literary Festival
COFFEE TALK | Across Borders, Belief and Exile with Lawrence Osborne
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Join Lawrence Osborne for a conversation on displacement, belonging, and the uneasy encounters between East and West.
About this Event

Across Borders, Belief and Exile with Lawrence Osborne


Speaker: Lawrence Osborne

Moderator: Raquel Carvalho

Date: March 4, Wed

Time: 3:00pm - 4:00pm

Venue: Soho House - Blue Room

Address: 33 Des Voeux Road West, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong

Price: HKD398 (includes a cup of hot beverage)

Language: English

Format: Coffee Talk


Description:
Lawrence Osborne is one of today’s most incisive writers on displacement, faith, and the uneasy encounters between East and West. Best known for The Forgiven, Beautiful Animals, and The Ballad of a Small Player (recently adapted into a Netflix film set in Hong Kong), Osborne’s fiction and essays explore the moral fault lines of privilege, risk and belonging in an increasingly fragmented world. Drawing on years living across Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, he examines what it means culturally, spiritually, and emotionally to be an outsider. In this conversation, Osborne reflects on writing place as character, the lingering afterlives of empire, and Hong Kong as rendered in On Java Road, a novel attuned to chance, intimacy, and exile.


About the Speaker:

Lawrence Osborne

Lawrence Osborne is the author of eight novels, a collection of short stories, and three works of non-fiction. Two of his novels, The Forgiven and The Ballad of a Small Player, have been turned into major Hollywood films. He was, for some years, a journalist with The New York Times and is now the co-founder of the film production company, Java Road, based in London, Tokyo and Bangkok, where he currently resides.


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Purchase 3 tickets to any events under HKILF 2026 and claim a complimentary seat at one of these exciting talks at Central Library:

•⁠ 3rd March (Tue): On Muscle: The Stuff that Moves Us and Why It Matters (7:00-8:30pm)

⁠•⁠ 4th March (Wed): I Deliver Parcels in Beijing (7:00-8:30pm)

•⁠ ⁠5th March (Thu): Amitav Ghosh: Ghost-Eye (7:00-8:30pm)


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ABOUT HKILF

The Hong Kong International Literary Festival (HKILF) inspires the joy of reading by bringing the world’s writers and stories to Hong Kong’s diverse communities. A dynamic year-round programme and an annual festival offer dialogue, entertainment and perspective, while the Young Readers Festival (YRF) motivates students to engage with all aspects of the written word, improving communication skills, while nurturing the art of writing and storytelling.

The annual festival features established and emerging writers from around the world, alongside local literary talents, in a programme that includes panel discussions, book talks, readings, workshops, walks, school programmes, performances, and more.

We are a registered charity non-profit organisation dedicated to bringing the best in the literary arts to Hong Kong. To find more, please visit our official website: https://www.festival.org.hk.


Please note that:

*We are unable to process refunds, please consider your ticket purchase a donation to the festival.

*Photos and videos of participants may be taken during the activities,which may be used by the organiser and the major sponsor for educational and promotional purposes in any way deemed appropriate, including disseminationthrough printed and online channels. Participation in the programme will constitute the participants’ consent to the above arrangement.

*The views and opinions expressed by the speakers do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Hong Kong International Literary Festival. HKILF disclaims any responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of the information shared by the speakers.

*If the Black Rainstorm Warning or the Tropical Cyclone Signal No. 8 or above is in force 3 hours before the start time of an event, the event will be cancelled and participants will receive a refund. If the Red or Yellow Rainstorm Warning or the Tropical Cyclone Signal No. 3 is in effect, the event will be held as scheduled.

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Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Soho House Hong Kong, 33 Des Voeux Road West, Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Tickets

HKD 398.00

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