Turning another page

The Librairie Avant-Garde Poetry Festival is a key event marking the launch of the bookshop, its sixth branch in Yunnan.

Like its predecessors, the new bookstore is located in an ancient village with breathtaking views, transformed anew from a dilapidated old building into a modern structure through redesign and reconstruction.

When Liu Jiakun, the 2025 Pritzker Architecture Prize laureate, first came to Huize county at the end of 2023, the cool temperatures, the idealism of Librairie Avant-Garde, and the local government officials' humility and passion impressed him, he says.

"Spiritual strength is a more crucial factor for a project's success than having an ideal venue or sufficient funding," he says.

After a 25-minute drive, Liu and his team stood in a yard between two derelict buildings — an old granary and a smaller pigpen-like house. "Standing in the yard, you cannot see beyond the walls. It's a very ordinary place. To build a bookstore here, the aforementioned idealism must shine," Liu says.