In a world where TikTok videos, tweets and chat threads race by, Chinese author Zhao Lihong reminds us that words still hold magic. Earlier this year, he won Italy’s 2025 Premio Montale Fuori di Casa (International Section) – a top prize celebrating global voices. 📚✨
At the award ceremony in Montale, Italy, Zhao shared: "As long as human nature exists, as long as our longing for beauty and truth endures, literature will not die." His words hit home for anyone who’s ever felt the power of a poem or the pulse of a novel. ❤️
Zhao believes that while smartphones and AI shift how stories reach us, they can’t erase the heart of storytelling. "Literature’s essence is to express ideas, share feelings and connect minds through words," he says. Whether you’re scrolling through an ebook or turning paper pages, that core stays the same.
From Mexico City to Bogotá, young readers are diving into poetry slams, booktok, and indie zines – proving that social media doesn’t kill reading, it just gives it new shapes and sounds. Zhao urges us to embrace these changes: "Literature evolves with society. It grows richer, more diverse, and more accessible." 🌍🖋️
So next time you open a book (digital or print), remember: every sentence, every stanza, is part of a conversation that stretches across time, cultures and continents. And as Zhao Lihong shows, that conversation isn’t going anywhere. 👏
Reference(s):
cgtn.com
