Annual Arts Survey Result Dashboard - 2022/23 Literary Arts

In 2022/23*, Hong Kong society gradually recovered from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, with most activities returning to normalcy. Hence, the number of literary and reading promotion activities (activities) surged by 50%, increasing from 1,110 in 2021/22 to 1,661 in 2022/23. This marks the highest number of activities recorded in the past five years. Additionally, several large-scale events, including the Hong Kong Book Fair and the Hong Kong International Literary Festival, were held continuously.

62% of the activities were public activities, and 38% were children and youth activities. The number of public activities increased 57%, rising from 658 in 2021/22 to 1034 in 2022/23. Meanwhile, the number of children and youth activities also increased 39% from 452 in 2021/22 to 627 in 2022/23.

When analyzing the types of activities, talks including seminars and sharing sessions continued to represent the largest portion of public activities, accounting for 47%, an increase from 41% in 2021/22. In the meanwhile, reading activities continued to represent the largest portion of children and youth activities, accounting for 76%, which was a slight decline from 83% in the previous year.

Excluding activities with unavailable information and those not focused on specific works, the number of public activities involving literary works**, such as prose, poetry, novels, and biographies, rose by 57%, increasing from 246 in 2021/22 to 387 in 2022/23. Similarly, the number of public activities centered on non-literary works, such as philosophy, psychology, and history, also saw a 63% increase, growing from 289 in 2021/22 to 470 in 2022/23. Meanwhile, activities for children and youth that involved literary works surged by 95%, from 112 in 2021/22 to 218 in 2022/23. Moreover, the number of children and youth activities focused on non-literary works experienced a remarkable 520% increase, jumping from 44 in 2021/22 to 273 in 2022/23.

Bookstores and libraries were the two main presenters of the activities. In 2022/23, bookstores accounted for 33% of these activities, a notable increase from 20% in 2021/22. Conversely, libraries organized 32% of the activities, slightly down from 39% in the previous year.

Below is an interactive dashboard of the Literary Arts statistics. Readers can click on the interested category of the charts. All figures can be downloaded as well.

* The number of Literary and Reading Promotion Activities in 2022/23 refers to the activities held during the financial year from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023.

** Picture books will be categorized as literary work starting from 2022/23. Unless the picture books contain non-literary content, which will be still categorized as non-literary work.

***Some events involved works from more than one genre and each genre was calculated separately.

**** Activities with unknown organizing units were not included. [2021/22 & 2022/23 (1 each)]. Others included social welfare organisations, educational institutes, publishers and any other business organisations.