Independent Hong Kong book fair urges transparency after 5 exhibitors barred under ‘force majeure’

Organisers of an independent Hong Kong book fair have called for openness and transparency after five exhibitors were allegedly barred by authorities without explanation.

Duk6 Duk6, an “indie narrative book fest” that promotes self-published works, is set to hold its fourth edition on November 14 and 15 at The Mills in Tsuen Wan. This year’s fair will feature about 125 exhibitors showcasing comics, novels, zines, animation and games, according to Yun Hyun, a non-profit collective of local creators.

But organisers said over the weekend that five exhibitors had been disqualified from the event due to “force majeure.”

“We recently received notifications from relevant authorities stating that, owing to force majeure issues arising during the licensing process, certain exhibitors cannot participate,” Yun Hyun said in a social media post written in Chinese, without specifying the government departments involved.

Force majeure – a clause covering uncontrollable events that force a cancellation – is a staple of venue and event contracts. Yet for many in Hong Kong in recent years, the phrase has increasingly become shorthand for covert political pressure and censorship.

Yun Hyun did not name the exhibitors that had to withdraw, only saying that the affected exhibitors included comic and novel writers and illustrators. The themes of their works range from local Hong Kong culture to science fiction, the group added.

The group also called on the authorities to provide clarity regarding censorship, so that event organisers can better cooperate.

“In recent years, similar events have frequently encountered similar situations. It is hoped that relevant departments will have a more open and transparent mechanism to make it easier for creators and organisers to cooperate,” Yun Hyun said.

‘We don’t know where the line is’

A curator of the fair, speaking on condition of anonymity citing fear of reprisals, told HKFP that organisers had been seeking a Temporary Places of Public Entertainment Licence from the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD). The application had to go through multiple departments for vetting, the curator said.

“One department called and told us that either these five exhibitors had to be removed, or the whole event would be cancelled, without giving any explanation,” the curator said.

HKFP has reached out to the FEHD for comment.

The curator added that the last edition of the book fair, held in early 2025, also encountered censorship against specific exhibitors by venue management.

“Given that experience, and seeing how every similar event lately has faced the same roadblocks, we were of course braced for it,” the curator said. “Still, we never imagined five exhibitors would be DQ’d [disqualified] in one go.”

The curator said all 125 exhibitors were hand-picked to ensure no AI-generated or plagiarised material was featured, adding that the event’s layout was drafted to bring like-minded artists together.

Losing five exhibitors at this stage added significantly to the team’s workload in vetting replacements and threatened to disrupt the carefully planned layout, the curator said.

The sudden exclusions also dealt a heavy blow to the vendors, who had spent months preparing to debut new work at the event, the curator said.

“Actually everyone wants to continue, but we don’t know where the line is drawn,” the curator said. “And we are not even trying to cross any lines, but even harmless things could be DQ’d.”

“The economic environment in recent years has been poor, and coupled with the impact of AI, the entire creative community is facing great challenges,” the curator added.

“As organisers, we hope that every creator and their work can be seen. But there’s only so much we can do.”

Safeguard press freedom; keep HKFP free for all readers by supporting our team

Support HKFP  |  Policies & Ethics  |  Error/typo?  |  Contact  |  Newsletter  | Transparency & Annual Report | Apps

Make a one-off donation.

Hans Tse is a reporter at Hong Kong Free Press with an interest in local politics, academia, and media transformation. He was previously a social science researcher, with writing published in the Social Movement Studies and Social Transformation of Chinese Societies journals. He holds an M.Phil in communication from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Before joining HKFP, he also worked as a freelance reporter for Initium between 2019 and 2021, where he covered the height - and aftermath - of the 2019 protests, as well as the national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020.