Portraits of International Literary Festival participants hang proudly above The Bookworm's bookcases. Photo:CRI

Eight years ago, Beijing's prime literary hub was a humble café with a library of about 2,000 books.

Founder Alexandra Pearson, a resident of Beijing for almost two decades, did most of the groundwork, in the hope of filling a void. "Beijing didn't really have a place for people to get their hands on books in the English language."

Now based in a second-story Sanlitun space, The Bookworm's rooms are lined with simple dark wood shelves towering above guests, filled with almost 20,000 library books. Both spacious dining rooms are filled with tables where visitors set up laptops to surf the web using The Bookworm's wifi connection, or small groups chatting quietly over coffee while smiling waiters in black bustle around the coffee bar and serve Western favorites such as lamb shank, salads, and seasonal specials like sangria. The crowd continues chatting and revelling into the wee hours of the morning; open until 1 am, The Bookworm is a popular night stopover, though the last food order is at 11pm. "The Bookworm is a restaurant/café by day and a bar/restaurant by night," Pearson says of the all-day business.

A third room houses a small bookshop with a variety of titles ranging from cookbooks, China-related fiction and non-fiction, and international hits.

The main drawcards, according to Pearson, are The Bookworm's events. "We're very event driven -- we do three to five events per week," she notes. One week's schedule covers everything from children's story time to whiskey tastings, literary talks, pub quizzes, music performances, and even a cooking class.

Literary talks at The Bookworm are an essential Beijing promotional stop for many authors. Beijing veteran Rachel DeWoskin was there on Tuesday night to discuss her new book, Big Girl Small, about a little person facing scandal at her high school. Pearson says she started with about one event per month, but the serious literature fans spread the word to more casual readers, leading to enough demand for a full calendar of events as well as a yearly literary festival.

The Bookworm's International Literary Festival is celebrated during its sixth anniversary this year, and the crowds have continued to grow. This year, over 70 Chinese and international literary names hosted events over two weeks in March, a clear crescendo to The Bookworm's busy calendar of events. Pearson and her team spend the rest of the year researching influential names in literature in preparation for the big event. "We put a hit list together of ideal authors; of course, they're going to be people who are current, who are winning prizes now, who are new voices in literature," she explains of her target guest list. "But the other thing about being in a place like Beijing is you've got to make sure you're diverse in terms of nationality."

Her search spans all countries in order to appeal to Beijing's international population. This year, an Icelandic author attracted a strong crowd of Icelandic expats as well as others who normally wouldn't usually have the chance to explore the country's literature.

Influential Chinese writers are an integral part of the event as well, helping to bridge interests between Chinese and foreign audiences. "You have to think about the Chinese audience and the foreign audience that wants to understand Chinese literature," Pearson says of the process.

Portraits of literary festival participants hang proudly above the bookcases in The Bookworm's large café room. Some of Pearson's favorite guests hosted at The Bookworm over the years include environmental writer Lester Brown, Australian-born author and journalist Geraldine Brooks, and contemporary American writer Eliot Weinberger.

The Bookworm has brought its international literary arena to branches in Chengdu and Suzhou. While the three branches are established in form, Pearson says her team will continue to improve on the services and events that characterize The Bookworm's brand.