By Helen Wang, March 12, '12
It took me ages to find the Literary Translation Centre programme on the LBF website, and then it was arranged alphabetically by session title. Call me old-fashioned, but I prefer schedules in chronological order, so here is an abridged version in date/time order, with the names of people. For more info on the sessions, chairs/speakers, check out the website.
Just a note to say that Jiang Tao's poem Tribe of Palaeopithecus, which I translated with Lee Man-Kay, has come in as runner-up in the MPT 2011 prize.
The poem is included in the Bloodaxe anthology Jade Ladder, edited by Yang Lian, WN Herbert and me.
By Helen Wang, March 12, '12
In a rash moment, I offered to post a new entry on Paper Republic every day until the London Bookfair. Now Nicky suggests that I come clean and say who I am and why I’m doing this!
By Helen Wang, March 11, '12
Kate Griffin has just written a piece about editing Chinese fiction for the Writers' Centre, Norwich:
“On the way back from Australia in December 2011, I spent a week in Shanghai and Beijing talking to Chinese writers, translators and editors about the editing culture in China (or lack thereof) and its impact on translation, and about support for writers. After a few days of intense conversation I gained a fascinating glimpse into the writing life in China today. All those I spoke with agreed that there is both a serious need for more professional editing as well as a shortage of experienced editors within the Chinese publishing industry…” Read the full article here
By Helen Wang, March 11, '12
The judges this year are Boyd Tonkin (The Independent), Hephzibah Anderson (writer and critic), Nick Barley (Director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival), Professor Jon Cook (Director of Creative and Performing arts, University of East Anglia) and Xiaolu Guo (who was shortlisted for this prize for her novel Village of Stone). There are fifteen on the long list. The winner will be announced at the London Bookfair on Monday 16 March [sorry, this should be Monday 16 April]. See the article in The Independent (http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/the-independent-foreign-fiction-prize-longlist-spans-a-planet-of-stories-7545606.html).
By Helen Wang, March 11, '12
“The Bookworm International Literary Festival is a unique celebration of literature and ideas in China, programming 100 events across three cities, connecting over 70 Chinese and international writers and thinkers.”
By Helen Wang, March 10, '12
The British Council has just announced its programme of events featuring Chinese authors. See here for details.
By Helen Wang, March 9, '12
The recent podcasts of Han Dong’s A Loud Noise (poem) and Deer Park (short story) prompted me to look for more. I found a few things – see below. It would be great to know if there are any good websites out there with podcasts of stories read in Chinese?
By Helen Wang, March 8, '12
M-on-the-Bund 米氏西餐厅
Speakers include:
- Geremie R. Barmé: West Lake: A World Made by Literature and Politics
- Ouyang Yu: Speaking English, Thinking Chinese and Living Australian. Living and writing between different worlds and languages
- Shan Sa: The Art of Literature. With the artist, poet and novelist (The Girl Who Played Go)
- Xu Xi: Creative “I”: A Writing Workshop in Narrative Prose (creative non-fiction & fiction)
- Amy Tan: On Shanghai, Life & Writing
- Xu Xi, Ovidia Yu: The New Asian Character. Addressing the Asian transnational experience. Moderated by Nury Vittach
- Li Er: The Magician of 1919. One of China’s most influential contemporary fiction writers on dreams, imagination and history
- Ovidia Yu: Chinese Mouth, English Words. The author of Chinese New Year Murders on why it feels strange yet natural to write in English about being Chinese
By Helen Wang, March 7, '12
The Hong Kong Festival has commissioned Gao Xingjian and theatre director Li Zhaohua [LIN Zhaohua, thanks btr] to create a new production of Gao’s "Of Mountains and Seas: A Tragicomedy of Gods" based on the Shanhaijing (山海经). It is the first time they have worked together in 30 years. In the 1980s Lin produced three of Gao’s plays: Absolute Signal, Bus Stop and Wild Man. For more info...
By Canaan Morse, March 5, '12
The latest edition of Paper Republic's industry newsletter is done and making its way into subscribers' inboxes right now. Included in this edition are notes on the Cambridge China library, an update on the Writer's Alliance lawsuit, a toothy scad of new book descriptions and a very comprehensive overview of the state of online literature in the Pee Are See.
If you sign up in the next few hours here, you can still get in on the action.
