From March 5 to 21, the 12th annual Shanghai International Literary Festival (SILF) will be held at M on the Bund. Nearly 60 bestselling, award-winning authors, exciting new talents and an array of writers from 17 different countries will descend upon the city for a series of talks, panels and workshops.

Fiction fans will not be disappointed by this year's program. On Friday, a literary lunch to mark International Women's Day will see crime fiction author Shamini Flint, bestselling biographer and novelist Frances Osborne, agricultural journalist and award-winning novelist Carrie Tiffany, and renowned Chinese-English translator Linda Jaivin discuss women's writing (12 to 2 pm, March 7).

Alexandra Zapruder

Adam Minter

Doc Brown Photos: Courtesy of M on the Bund

Also attending this year's festival are Alexandra Zapruder, whose book Salvaged Pages: Young Writers' Diaries of the Holocaust won a National Jewish Book Award (4 to 5 pm, March 8); British rapper and comedian Doc Brown (7:30 to 8:30 pm, March 15); and Forgotten Country author Catherine Chung, who will discuss writing in a second language (12 to 2 pm, March 16).

Meanwhile, aspiring writers can pick up tips at one of the festival's many workshops. Virginia Pye will counsel how to write first and research later (3 to 5 pm, March 7), Rashmi Jolly Dalai will discuss how to use personal experience to write for memoir and fiction (3 to 4 pm, March 11), Shelly Bryant will focus on poetry (3 to 5 pm, March 13), and Bert de Muynck will use Shanghai as an example of how to make the city a literary character (3 to 5 pm, March 14).

As always, there is also plenty on the program for those interested in contemporary China. Sure to be popular is a debate on whether China can overcome its environmental challenges, which will feature Chandran Nair, the author of Consumptionomics: Asia's Role in Reshaping Capitalism and Saving the Planet, along with Financial Times writers Jane Owen, Tom Mitchell and Simon Rabinovitch (5 to 6 pm, March 8).

Catherine Chung Photo: Courtesy of Ayano Hisa Photography

Meanwhile, Evan Osnos, an astute observer of present-day China, will give a talk entitled "Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth and Faith in the New China," based on his eight years of experience covering the country for The New Yorker (5 to 6 pm, March 16).

Osnos will also be participating in a lunch talk on writing about China from the different perspectives of journalism, fiction and history alongside Shanghai-based novelist Mishi Saran and leading China historian Jeffrey Wasserstrom (12 to 2 pm, March 17).

Also speaking at this year's SILF is American journalist Adam Minter, whose debut book examining the global recycling industry, Junkyard Planet: Travels in the Billion Dollar Trash Trade has received glowing reviews from international media. Minter, who grew up in his family's scrap business, will talk about his experience from a kid accompanying his grandmother to garage sales in Minneapolis to a professional journalist who has visited over 100 factories in China while covering the country's booming recycling industry (1 to 2 pm, March 9).

Another recently released book whose authors will attend the festival is China's Vanishing Worlds. Cultural critics Hsin-Mei Chuang and Matthias Messmer spent seven years traveling and researching rural China to document the impact of the country's rapid economic and social development on the lives of Chinese villagers (lunch talk, 12 to 2 pm, March 19).

Talks that may be of particular interest to the city's foreign residents include "Expatriate Nation" (12 to 1 pm, March 9), in which psychiatrist and author Tanveer Ahmed will discuss how mobility and internationalization shape identity, and "Shanghai Future," Anna Greenspan's look at the city's ambition to plan and build a modern metropolis (11 am to midday, March 15).

Avid gallery-goers will not want to miss the panel discussion "Alternatives to Ritual" about the local art scene, featuring Shanghai-based curators Gao Mingyan, Lu Jing and Biljana Ciric, along with Dr. Claus Heimes, director of the Department for Culture and Education at the German Consulate General in Shanghai. The panelists will discuss exhibition making and curatorial practice, focusing particularly on the relationship between artists, institutions and curators (7 to 8 pm, March 17).

Meanwhile, art enthusiasts seeking a more hands-on experience can attend a workshop led by photographer and pop-up book artist Colette Fu, who will teach participants how to make a Year of the Horse pop-up card (5 to 7 pm, March 17).

Tickets to a session cost 75 yuan ($12), which includes a drink. Lunch talks, which include a simple lunch are 120 yuan, and literary lunches, which include a three-course luncheon, are 188 yuan.

For the full program and ticket booking information, visit www.m-restaurantgroup.com/mbund/literary-festival.html.

Dates: March 5 to 21

Venue: M on the Bund

Address: 7/F, 20 Guangdong Road

广东路20号7楼

Tel: 6350-9988