We had a wonderful and informative evening with Larry Feign on Thursday, 8th April.
Larry is well-known to many old Hong Kong hands as the creator of The World of Lily Wong cartoon that we turned to in the South China Morning Post in days of old. However, Thursday’s session was about his new project, the historical novel, The Flower Boat Girl.
This is based on the true story of Shek Yang, the pirate queen of the south China coast. Shek Yang was a real person whom Larry first happened on in an old folk song of the Tangka or boat people. Through a series of happy coincidences, he established that she was a real person, and was able to hunt down her story – albeit one with many holes.In his fascinating, erudite and at times funny presentation, Larry discussed the difficulties he faced in tracing source material, and the literary challenges he faced in remaining authentic to the truth while weaving a compelling story around it.
Larry’s book is available online and in Bookazine.
