Libby Wong

Libby Wong's appearance at the Man Hong Kong International Literary Festival, on Monday 6 March was warmly received. She will appear to sign copies of her novel Rainbow City at at Page One Bookshop.

Libby Wong was born in Shanghai and brought up in Hong Kong which is her home. Until the handover of Hong Kong's sovereignty from Britain to China, she was a member of Hong Kong Government's Administrative Service, with special areas of responsibilities ranging from finance to culture, health and welfare.

While she was Hong Kong's Music Administrator, and subsequently Commissioner for Culture, she was instrumental in promoting musical training for young people in Hong Kong and paved the way for the promotion of performing arts in general and the setting up of the Academy of Performing Arts in particular.

Known for her creativity and management expertise in trouble shooting, she was posted to tough jobs where, through a series of meteoric promotions, she became the Director of Social Welfare to usher in various reform measures for the disadvantaged members of society. Under her guidance, for the first time in Hong Kong, senior citizens are now eligible for special discounts through the introduction of Senior Citizen Cards. Subsequently, as Secretary for Health and Welfare, she established the Hospital Authority, and also paved the way for legislative changes for Chinese Traditional Medicine. She took early retirement to go into politics.

In 1995 she won popular acclaim as QUEEN of the POLLS in the 1995 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ELECTION, with the highest number of votes to the democratically elected last legislature of Hong kong under British rule. She left politics for good in 1997 to write.

For her distinguished service in the Government, she was awarded the ISO (Imperial Service Order) and the CBE (Commander of the British Empire) and was also made an Hon. Fellow of the Academy of the Performing Arts.

One of the best bilingual writers in Hong Kong, Libby Wong is uniquely bi-cultural and well honed in Chinese and English in their spoken and written forms.
A linguist by training, and a teacher by professional qualification, under the tutelage of the legendary English poet, Edmund Blunden, she has developed a passion for English literature.

In her formative years, she received her earlier education in Hong Kong's prestigious Diocesan Girls' School. Later,she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Honours degree at the University of Hong Kong. This was followed by a diploma in Education with distinction in the area of teaching English as a second language. Subsequently, she attended the New Zealand Staff college and a sponsored management programme at Harvard Business School.

Writing is her passion. From youth, she has pursued it with vigour. When fresh out of University, she sold her first short story 'Street Musician' to the BBC Overseas Service and became a regular short story contributor to the China Mail. She won short story prizes, notably for her story 'The Man Who Was' about the Vietnam War, and 'The Negotiator' about changes in Hong Kong in the eighties.

She had her own column 'Libby at Large' with the Hong Kong Standard, and several columns in the Chinese language papers and magazines, notably with the Oriental Magazine and Ming Pao.

A person of boundless energy, she is carving a niche for herself in the literary world.

She says, 'If I can just invoke some memories about things in the past: those smells, sounds and sights of things we loved once but are no more, I am succeeding in what I want to do as a writer. People forget so easily. Without sounding grand or sentimental about things, the past is part of our present. I hope my readers think I am good at writing about subjects which somehow manage magically to make us see ourselves for what we are, perhaps delving a little into our memories and tugging a little at our heart strings.'

Books by Libby Wong

Rainbow City Fiction. A thrilling love story, set in Hong Kong, as the Chinese take over control from the British. First edition now sold out.