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Santa Monica’s Midnight Special Bookstore was packed Tuesday night with an audience ranging from teenagers to elderly ladies, all listening to bestselling author Dai Sijie, whose novel “Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress” has been translated into 31 languages and made into a film by the writer himself.

The author and director of “Balzac” expressed his deep regard for literature to the crowd at the Midnight Special. He talked about details from the novel that were taken from his own experiences during the repressive Cultural Revolution in China under Mao Zedong in the ’70s.

“I wanted to show the part of the revolution that became less violent to the people, but more absurd,” Sijie said through a translator.

“Balzac” revolves around one particular absurdity, the banning and burning of most literature in China. Inspired by Sijie’s life, the story tells of two young boys who steal a trunk of forbidden books and share their new wealth of knowledge with a local seamstress girl.

“When I wrote the book I didn’t want to give any message. It’s just a tribute to the literature that changed our lives,” Sijie said.

“One of the first things we thought of was to read those books to girls,” Sijie added, chuckling. “But in real life she wasn’t a seamstress, she was a peasant, but she was very pretty, a real beauty. You might think of people in poor countries to be ugly, but not in this case.”

Though being nominated for last Sunday’s best foreign film Golden Globe, “Balzac” has yet to be released in the United States. When asked if it eventually would be distributed, Sijie’s producer, Lise Fayolle, answered on his behalf.

“I hope soon; we are in negotiation right now with companies. Hopefully Spring,” Fayolle said.

The film, which includes all the material found in the book as well as some new scenes, was originally released in France and has spread to other countries like Canada. Yet it may never be released in Sijie’s native country.

“When we decided to adapt the novel to the movie, we had to live in Beijing for one year and every day go to the censorship office to try to bargain with them,” Sijie said. “And now the film is done, but we still don’t have the authorization to release the film in China.”

“To this day, I could never publish a word of Chinese in China,” Sijie said. “Maybe in 10 years the film will be distributed in China.”

Though influenced by his upbringing in China, Sijie would likely have been a silent voice if not for his migration out of the country as a result of a special scholarship. He went to study in France, where he first became a filmmaker and later specialized in screenwriting. “Balzac” is his first novel.

“At the beginning, I had no idea it could become a film,” Sijie said.

After an hour and a half of answering questions, Sijie retired from the podium and signed copies of “Balzac,” a remarkable work considering Sijie wrote it in his second language, French.

“Even when I make mistakes, I thought I could tell a story – so I had to tell a story I knew by heart,” Sijie said.