"People’s Literature" Announces Best Novel Awards

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On May 30, 2010, at a ceremony in Cixi, Zhejiang, People’s Literature magazine announced the winners in its competition to identify the best novels published during 2008-9:

Frog (蛙) by Mo Yan (莫言)
King Gesar (格萨尔王) by Alai (阿来)
Auntie Duo’he (小姨多鹤) by Yan Geling (严歌苓)
A Word is Worth a Thousand Words (一句顶一万句) by Liu Zhenyun (刘震云) Boat to Redemption (河岸) by Su Tong (苏童)

Somewhat of a damper on any excitement this might have elicited, however, is the fact that this list is largely identical to the books that were shortlisted for the 2009 Dangdai Literary Prize.

Members of the judging committee for the People’s Literature magazine competition included literature professor Chen Xiaoming, foreign literature scholar Chen Zhongyi, literary critics Yan Jingming and Hu Ping, theatre director Mu Sen, historical novelist Xiong Zhaozheng and young writer Zhang Yueran.