Vaudine speaks at Hong Kong Literary Festival 2023

The Hong Kong Literary Festival has wrapped up for another year, with an incredible programme featuring established and emerging writers from around the world.

We’re delighted that our own Vaudine England, co-founding director of History Ink and author of the book ‘Hari Harilela: Made in Hong Kong’, spoke at one of the highlight events of the festival: a panel discussion with Aron Harilela and Jonathan Kaufman, author of Last Kings of Shanghai.

When Aron asked Vaudine to write the biography of his famous father, Hari Harilela, particularly for his mother Padma, she felt a weight of responsibility. How does one convey the personality of such an amazing man? Happily, Hari had left some of his own writings on the early tough years. That’s when Hari, with older brother George, sold goods from a suitcase on the footpath outside a British army barracks in the 1930s, before becoming tycoons of tailoring. Thanks to Hari’s vision and sheer dogged hard work, he became hotelier to the world. Hari and his gracious wife Padma were soon global figures of style and personality.

Vaudine loves a good story, and telling this one is always fun — especially when the Harilela hospitality comes into play. Unlike most Hong Kong Literary Festival events - a panel in a public space - this talk was at the stunning Harilela palace in Kowloon, with constantly flowing drinks and food. Safe to say, a good time was had by all — and Hari Harilela’s contributions to an earlier Hong Kong once more marvelled at.