THE sixth edition of the EU-China International Literary Festival, which runs from Nov. 27 to Dec. 19 online, has put female writers under the spotlight.

With the theme “Through women’s eyes — reading between the lines,” the festival will ideally bring leading writers from all across the European Union to China, in a celebration of books, writers and readers.

“We dedicate this year’s literary festival to the diversity and creativity of women writers across the EU and China”, Nicolas Chapuis, EU ambassador to China, said at the festival’s online opening ceremony.

During the three-week online literary festival, 50 novelists, writers and poets from China and European Union will discuss their works, creative ideas and the world that inspires them in lectures, dialogue or readings that audiences can access through articles, videos and podcasts.

“The true value of women’s writing was long ignored, but has gradually gained recognition over the last century,” Chapuis said.

After almost two years, the world is still fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic. “At this moment of societal change, women’s engagement in economic and social recovery of today’s world is essential,” he said.

“Putting the spotlight on female writers this year is vital. We aspired to give audiences a chance to discover the extraordinary value of women’s writing and cultural production,” he said.

Portuguese writer Lidia Jorge, one of the guest speakers for the launch ceremony, said that life is created through writing. “We must write our own lives and the most important thing for women is to find our own perspectives to write. In a long time in the past, women couldn’t write, so their life was created through men’s eyes. But now things have changed. Women’s writing matters to the entire human race,” she said.

There have been a lot of movements in Europe, in Portugal, so that women can use their own words to narrate their own life, she said. “But there are still a lot of places that women have not touched and explored,” she said.

Another guest speaker, Chinese writer Xu Xiaobin, the author of “Crystal Wedding” and “Feathered Serpent,” said to maintain creativity, woman writers should open their secret paths of mind to connect with the outside world, to draw nutrition from philosophy, natural sciences, art and life itself. (China Daily)