Photo credit: Penguin Books Australia
3 Martin Booth
If you went to an international school in Hong Kong, chances are that Martin Booth needs little introduction. The British-born poet and novelist spent his formative years growing up in the city and his childhood experiences are chronicled in his breakout memoir, Gweilo: Memories of a Hong Kong Childhood, a book that has long remained on the required reading list of Hong Kong school curricula. Booth’s retelling of his life offers itself as unique insight coming from a European boy living in then-colonial Hong Kong.
As a screenwriter, teacher, and the founder of Sceptre Press, Booth has maintained a prolific output across his career, penning and editing over 70 titles before his death. Most of Booth’s work is based on his life lived in Central Asia, set in the time period of British colonial rule. Aside from Gweilo: Memories of a Hong Kong Childhood, one of his most well-known work includes Hiroshima Joe, which was published in 1985. Hiroshima Joe is about the Second World War and revolves around the story of a man who Booth personally met when he was young.