Starting with Australian author Frank Moorhouse's speech 11 years ago, in which he made a link between martinis and literature, Shanghai International Literary Festival has become an annual highpoint in the city's cultural calendar.

From March 1 to 17, the upcoming 11th edition of the festival will feature 71 authors from 21 countries.

Among them are Asian authors making a splash on the international scene, like Shin Kyung-sook, the only South Korean writer and also the first woman to win the Man Asian Literary Prize, in 2012; and Jeet Thayil, an Indian poet and novelist short-listed for the Man Booker Prize last year.