Shanghai Translation Launches 5 Novels by Nobel Laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah

Shanghai Translation Publishing (上海译文出版社) has begun marketing its Chinese renditions of five novels by Nobel Laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah: 《天堂》(Paradise),《来世》(After Lives),《赞美沉默》(Admiring Silence),《最后的礼物》(The Last Gift) and《海边》(By the Sea). They will eventually be available in e-book format as well. As noted in Tales of Exile and Migration, in 2021 this publisher acquired the rights to publish translations — … Continue reading Shanghai Translation Launches 5 Novels by Nobel Laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah →

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o and his “The Perfect Nine”: Now Slated for Future Translation into Chinese?

April 14, 2021 Update: Writer's Literary Agent Confirms that a China Publisher has Bought the Rights to Translate and Publish <The Perfect Nine> in Chinese Reports the Guardian: Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o has become the first writer to be nominated for the International Booker prize as both author and translator of the same book, and the first nominee writing … Continue reading Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o and his “The Perfect Nine”: Now Slated for Future Translation into Chinese? →

Coming soon to China: African Poetry, Novellas and Parables Translated Direct from Hausa and Swahili

2021 looks set to be a banner year for what I refer to in shorthand as “Afrolit4China,” i.e., African writing in Chinese translation targeting readers in the People’s Republic. According to the latest statistics from the sole online mini-database in this niche, the bilingual African Writing in Chinese Translation (非洲文学: 中文译本), now lists 240 translated works by 101 … Continue reading Coming soon to China: African Poetry, Novellas and Parables Translated Direct from Hausa and Swahili →

非漂出版专讯: 2020.4 AfroLit4China Newsbriefs

Recent Interviews with African Novelists (非洲作家最近受访): Petina Gappah, Zimbabwean author of Out of Darkness, Shining Light, about 19th-century explorer David Livingstone: “Livingstone was an absolute gossip and his journals were valuable – he wrote about other people, but also about nature, ants, leaves. The most interesting snippets, I weaved into the story. I learned Swahili … Continue reading 非漂出版专讯: 2020.4 AfroLit4China Newsbriefs →

非漂 [Fēi Piāo] Quote of the Week: Patrice Nganang on African Writers’ Focus on Life Overseas

Ngum Ngafor: As an artist, you follow in the footsteps of writers like Bate Besong and Mongo Beti to critique political and social issues. How urgent is it for today’s Cameroonian creative to be society’s conscience? Patrice Nganang: It is more than urgent, particularly because Africa has had a very long disconnect between its younger writers … Continue reading 非漂 [Fēi Piāo] Quote of the Week: Patrice Nganang on African Writers’ Focus on Life Overseas →

非漂出版专讯: 2018.1 AfroLit4China Newsbriefs

Q & A with Alain Mabanckou and why he said “Non” to Macron’s francophone project: The French language is varied, plural, diverse, and we don’t need France’s permission to create with it. Americanah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s fifth work to appear in Chinese, has been launched as 美国佬. See updated bilingual list of African Fiction in … Continue reading 非漂出版专讯: 2018.1 AfroLit4China Newsbriefs →

Cartoonist Takes the Mickey out of China’s Africa Grab

In How a Lone Ghanaian Cartoonist Stood up to China just published in Quartz Africa, freelance journalist Kwasi Gyamfi Asiedu profiles a young artist who has emerged as a thorn in the side of China as it works overtime to forge a friendly, ‘win-win’ image for itself as a partner to African business. Earlier this … Continue reading Cartoonist Takes the Mickey out of China’s Africa Grab →

非漂出版专讯: 2017.11 AfroLit4China Newsbriefs

A South African investigative journalist’s The President’s Keepers — documenting the ‘cancerous cabal’ that is reportedly bankrolling Jacob Zuma’s presidency — has become a best-seller even as the state moves to ban it. According to a report in Quartz Africa (Jacob Zuma’s corruption scandals are getting South Africans to read again), the State Security Agency … Continue reading 非漂出版专讯: 2017.11 AfroLit4China Newsbriefs →

Mandela: “Dare Not Linger” Launched in English, as Weibo Bans Search in Chinese

The long awaited second volume of Nelson Mandela’s memoirs — Dare not Linger — has just been published. Left unfinished at his death, it has been completed by South African writer Mandla Langa, who reportedly worked from the partial draft, Mandela’s own notes and private archives. I am interested because I’d like to know if it … Continue reading Mandela: “Dare Not Linger” Launched in English, as Weibo Bans Search in Chinese →

非漂 [Fēi Piāo] Quote of the Week: “An Expanded Capacity for Empathy”

. . . I began thinking one of literature’s tasks was to give voices to the voiceless, and to humanize people . . . so my first book of stories, The Refugees, worked exactly in that register, trying to humanize the Vietnamese people. But eventually I realized that this was a task that was doomed … Continue reading 非漂 [Fēi Piāo] Quote of the Week: “An Expanded Capacity for Empathy” →