The 7th annual Shanghai International Literature Festival that kicks off today will feature 52 authors from around the world holding various workshops and lectures.

Shanghai's 7th annual literary festival kicks off March 6 with one of its liveliest international gatherings of authors covering a range of topics from history and current events to China's gastronomical delights.

This year's event running through March 22 promises to be one of the most interactive and intellectually stimulating. Authors will hold workshops on writing and getting published and there will be wine and poetry sessions, literary lunches, vintage Shanghai film screenings and even a historical museum walk.

It is all in the name of keeping the festival vibrant and catering for a broad range of tastes, according to organizer and restaurateur Michelle Garnaut.

"We are trying to broaden the horizons of the festival because it is in its seventh year," she says.

This year there are 52 authors, compared with 55 last year, and organizers have added more variety and activities at M on the Bund and the Glamour Bar.

The festival started with just one author and has grown to a three-week event that will include talks from bestselling authors and some of the most incisive thinkers about world politics.

Garnaut says the festival has weathered the current economic storm, building on its corporate support, while ensuring that tickets are affordable.

"It is about a community event and we tried to keep the prices low. In fact, we are probably the cheapest literary festival in the world apart from Jiapur (India), which is free," she says.

Prices are the same as last year's, 65 yuan (US$9.50) and just 10 yuan for students. Lunch sessions are priced at 188 yuan each; the museum tour is 265 yuan.

"We really encourage students to come and listen to a range of things," says Garnaut.

Headliners include Marina Lewycka, author of the hugely popular "The Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian," who will hold a workshop and give a talk this afternoon. It took Lewycka 40 years to publish her first novel, "Tractors," which it sold more than 1 million copies and has been published in 30 languages.

The British-raised author from a migrant Ukrainian family will start the festival with a workshop detailing how she became a bestselling author. Tomorrow she will discuss her first two novels and how she used her family's migrant experience as inspiration.

Garnaut says ticket sales are strong in general and selling quickly for tomorrow's talk by James Fallows, a journalist, author and veteran China commentator.

Another popular talk selling fast is the combined Stella Dong/Fallows talk about Shanghai.

Dong is the author of the classic "Shanghai 1843-1949: The Rise and Fall of a Decadent City," which is almost required reading for new residents.

She will share the three Shanghais she has come to know: the cruel, seductive city she chronicled in her book, the Shanghai of the 1980s, and the bustling city of today.

"It is about a community event and we tried to keep the prices low. In fact, we are probably the cheapest literary festival in the world apart from Jiapur (India), which is free. " - Michelle Garnaut

An addition to the festival this year will be the Sunday festival films. Festival-goers can take a break, have a drink and breathe in a bit of celluloid history as they view classic films made and set in Shanghai of the 1930s.

Other highlights include the literary lunch next Tuesday with Ridley Pearson, the New York Times bestselling author who over a 30-year career has sold more than 10 million books.

The festival also caters to younger literature fans, with activities designed especially for kids and teenagers, including a fun interactive session with children's author Jane Godwin. She will talk to kids about how to gather ideas for stories. She will read picture storybooks and demonstrate how picture books are made.

For foodies, the festival offers a smorgasbord of fantastically insightful writers talking about Chinese food culture and famously diverse cuisine.

These include Nicole Mones, author of "The Last Chinese Chef" in which she considers China through the prism of its food culture, and Beijing cooking school owner Jen Lin Liu, who will discuss journey through Chinese kitchens and characters.

For more information on upcoming events, check www.m-restaurantgroup.com. To purchase tickets, visit www.mypiao.com.

(Shanghai Daily March 6, 2009)