Yu Hua and Richard Flanagan in 'Australian Writers Week'

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The ongoing Australian Writers Week in China has seen plenty of activities, from creative writing workshops, forums and discussions between Australian and Chinese writers. However, one of the most anticipated events is the one featuring Chinese writer Yu Hua and Australian author Richard Flanagan. Both are renowned in their home countries, and hail from the same generation.

Yu Hua is best known for his award-winning novel "To Live", which was adapted into a film by director Zhang Yimou in 1994.

He was joined in discussion by Richard Flanagan on Saturday night at the One-way Street Bookstore in Beijing. Flanagan is hailed as one of the most talented writers in Australia today, having won the 2014 Man Booker Prize for his novel, "The Narrow Road to the Deep North", which has been translated into Chinese and published.

Both have read the other author's works and said they were very excited to meet in person.

Richard Flanagan (L) and Yu Hua (R) /courtesy of Australian Embassy in Beijing

Yu Hua said: "I think his novel,'The Narrow Road to the Deep North', is a book that one must read. It is a great novel. It is one of two or three best novels out of more than 20 non-Chinese novels I've read in the past two years. This novel is so good that when you ask, in what way this novel is good, it's too difficult to answer.

"If I can easily answer the question, it means the novel is not good enough. The novel is a marvelous, good from beginning to the end. When you read the first chapter, you're drawn by the pace and tone of its narration, but from the second chapter on, you're totally absorbed by its plot, by its story," he added

Flanagan had also read Yu Hua's work "To Live" and "China in Ten Words", and said that the vast changes in Chinese society are reflected in Yu's stories about individuals. Previously Flanagan said he was very excited to be able to speak with Yu Hua on Saturday.

"I'm very interested to meet Yu Hua. I'm very interested in him and what he might have said because I read some of his books, and I find them fascinating," said Flanagan.

The discussion between these two literary giants not only allowed them to meet, but also offered a class that literature lovers said they gained a lot from attending.

The two writers also talked about which authors have influenced them. Coincidentally, both said they were deeply inspired by William Faulkner and Kafka.

Richard Flanagan (C) and Yu Hua (R) /courtesy of Australian Embassy in Beijing

Yu said that Faulkner taught him how to depict one's inner world, while Kafka set him free from any model that he was supposed to follow. Flanagan joked that all three of them are "southerners", coming from a small town at the "south" end of their countries. He said he was inspired by Faulkner because he too can write stories about people living in remote mining towns, towns that he's also lived in.

Flanagan's novel, "The Narrow Road to the Deep North", tells the story of Dorrigo Evans, an Australian doctor haunted by memories of a love affair with his uncle's wife, and of his subsequent experiences as a prisoner of war. Flanagan said his novel was inspired by his father's own experience, as a war prisoner and a survivor of the Burma Death Railway.

Deeply influenced by his father who is a poetry lover, Flanagan said that he knew he was going to be a writer when he was four years old. Yu Hua, however, joked about becoming a writer so that he could escape a career in dentistry.

Both authors had a similar piece of advice for aspiring writers; keep writing. Yu said that if you sit and write three to four hours every day, a year later you will become a good writer. Meanwhile, Flanagan commented that writing is just like fishing – you have to be out fishing every day even you get nothing for days; eventually, a bountiful harvest awaits.