In the opening paragraphs of Stella Prize shortlisted Indelible City: Dispossession and Defiance in Hong Kong, author Louisa Lim is torn between journalistic neutrality and her love of Hong Kong as she is invited by guerrilla sign painters to grab a brush and help produce pro-democracy banners. An award-winning journalist who reported from China for a decade, Lim’s first book The People’s Republic of Amnesia – Tiananmen Revisited resulted in her being unable to visit the mainland again for years. Bridges burnt, she had nothing to lose. When the Hong Kong protests began over concerns about an extradition treaty, and escalated to a crackdown on freedom of expression, Lim found herself uniquely placed to capture the city’s untold history, just as it was being erased. Lim, a former correspondent for the BBC and NPR, is now a Senior Lecturer at University of Melbourne. Lim shares her raw experience of ‘dispossession and defiance in Hong Kong’ with Sam Sachdeva, author of The China Tightrope. Supported by Asia New Zealand Foundation / Te Whītau Tūhono. FRI, 19 MAY 2023, 5:30pm – 6:30pm, Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre, Aotea Centre.

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