On March 11, YCIS Beijing was honoured to welcome Bidisha, our second of five authors arranged to visit our campus to give informative and inspiring talks to our students during the Bookworm Literary Festival held over March and April.

A highly regarded journalist, author, and human rights and international affairs activist, Bidisha has an impressive resume, including acting as a regular correspondent for the BBC and having her first book published at the age of 15. Bidisha’s latest book Asylum and Exile: Hidden Voices of London documented her time working as writing-teacher with groups of asylum seekers in London and was the focus of her engaging and thought-provoking talk with YCIS Beijing Upper Secondary students.

During the talk itself, Bidisha gave insight into the plight of asylum seekers, allowing students to see life from a perspective that they themselves may never experience as well as sharing her expertise on becoming a freelance writer. When asked what advice she has for students interested in pursuing a career in writing, Bidisha warmly responded, “Get yourself published as soon as possible, work on it until you’re happy with it, and immediately start submitting it to whoever you want to work for. Make a list of newspapers, magazines, radio, and television companies. Put together a professional pitch but don’t be shy about approaching people; the worst thing they can do is say no or ignore you. It’s important to realise that writing is a public job and it’s necessary to get over any awkwardness that you may have. Not everyone will like it but it’s fine to keep on going. Don’t lose faith!”

The two hour talk engaged students and left them with words of inspiration to pursue their passion regardless of whether or not it is related to writing. A big thank you to Bidisha for visiting YCIS Beijing and sharing her expertise with our students so eloquently. We look forward to hearing more from you in the future.

The literary festival is just getting started! To find out more about the next author visit at YCIS Beijing, click here!