Chongqing-born writer Hong Ying, whose influential works have been published in foreign languages since the 1990s, first met Adam Williams at a friend's party, when he was caught up in the excitement of the publication of his first novel.

Then she was widely known for her novels K: the Art of Love,Peacock Cries, and the autobiographical Daughter of the River, and had lived in London for almost nine years.

"I spent an hour telling her how to write a book and get published in the UK, not knowing she was already a world-known writer," Williams says.