Oct 20 Update Booming Sales of Alexievich's Works: State Media Attributes them to China's "Nobel Complex" Oct 12 Update Man Asian Literary Prize winner Bi Feiyu praises Alexievich and her brand of non-fiction in an interview with Yangzi Evening News: 毕飞宇：今年的诺奖不是一个冷门 . But he does not cite any current practitioners of oral history or investigative journalism … Continue reading Svetlana Alexievich, Nobel Laureate: China Media’s Initial Reactions
Excerpt of the Week: The Nightjar at Dusk (黄昏夜莺)
So now the escapee nightjar and I were conspirators. I had to stay patient and play my part in its plot. We stood a while longer, though of course the urgent call did not sound. But the boy stood there motionless, gazing up at the spot where the bird had once perched. He already had … Continue reading Excerpt of the Week: The Nightjar at Dusk (黄昏夜莺)
Pathlight Spring 2015: A Handful of Pieces by Mongolian and Xinjiang-based Writers
The new issue of Pathlight (Spring 2015) Chinese literature in translation is out. Its theme is Nature, and you can download the PDF for free here.A quick look at the contents reveals four pieces that fall at least loosely into the "ethnic-themed" fiction category:Two pieces by Mongolian writers:Wolves Walk Atwain (p 18) Deng Yiguang (邓一光) … Continue reading Pathlight Spring 2015: A Handful of Pieces by Mongolian and Xinjiang-based Writers
Profile: Xinjiang-based Uyghur Writer Perhat Tursun
In Meet China’s Salman Rushdie, Foreign Policy’s Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian profiles Xinjiang's controversial Uyghur writer Perhat Tursun (پەرھات تۇرسۇن, 帕尔哈提·吐尔逊): Perhat is the author of The Art of Suicide [自杀的艺术], a novel decried as anti-Islamic that in 1999 set off a religious firestorm among Uighurs, the largely Muslim, Turkic minority concentrated in the nominally autonomous Chinese … Continue reading Profile: Xinjiang-based Uyghur Writer Perhat Tursun
1982-2015 Mao Dun Prize: 43 Winners — But which Ones Truly Benefited Sales-wise?
Over the last few years, the veil has been partially lifted on what has been China’s most coveted literary prize for the novel, the Mao Dun Literature Prize, which is awarded just once every four years. You can bone up on the scandals behind this and other awards here if you like. The Beijing Daily … Continue reading 1982-2015 Mao Dun Prize: 43 Winners — But which Ones Truly Benefited Sales-wise?
“Funeral of a Muslim”: Sales Top 3m, TV Series in the Pipeline
Sales of Funeral of a Muslim (穆斯林的葬礼, 霍达著), Huo Da’s classic saga of a Hui family in Beijing that spans the turbulent years of the Japanese invasion, World War II and part of the Cultural Revolution, have now topped three million copies, according to a press conference held in the capital on September 11 (突破). This arguably makes … Continue reading “Funeral of a Muslim”: Sales Top 3m, TV Series in the Pipeline
“Wolf Totem” Author Awarded Prize by World Mongol Authors Association
Jiang Rong, the Han Chinese author of Wolf Totem (狼图腾, 姜戎著), has been awarded the “Genius Writer Prize” (Bichgiin Mergen Prize) by the World Mongol Authors Association based in Mongolia, according to a news item in Mongolia’s UB Post. The novel is a semi-autobiographical novel about the experiences of a young student from Beijing “sent … Continue reading “Wolf Totem” Author Awarded Prize by World Mongol Authors Association
Baidu Encyclopedia First? Uyghur Author’s Name Noted in Uyghur Script
An entry I read today in Baidu Encyclopedia (百度百科), a domestic site which serves as a (politically correct) Wikipedia for mainland Chinese — the latter is often firewalled — may signal a change in the policy of referring to members of minority ethnicities by Chinese name only. Qurbanjan Semet, author/photographer of the recently launched I … Continue reading Baidu Encyclopedia First? Uyghur Author’s Name Noted in Uyghur Script
One Belt, One Road: China’s Soft Power Campaign Quietly Inches its Way to Middle East and North Africa
A children's literature exhibition and copyright exchange for countries along the Silk Road were two of the major focuses of the just-ended Beijing Int’l Book Fair, reports the Global Times (Book Fair): Children's book publishers from 15 Arab countries and 18 domestic publishers signed deals that will see the best of children's literature from China … Continue reading One Belt, One Road: China’s Soft Power Campaign Quietly Inches its Way to Middle East and North Africa
Aug 2015 Update: Strategies for Exporting More of China’s Ethnic Fiction
I was invited to the “2015 Sino-foreign Literature Translation & Publishing Workshop” (2015 中外文学翻译研修班) that just ended in Beijing, but didn’t make it. It looks like it was a major happening with more than 50 translation and publishing professionals attending from 30+ countries. Check out the site here. Most of it is in Chinese, but … Continue reading Aug 2015 Update: Strategies for Exporting More of China’s Ethnic Fiction
Altaic Storytelling 