News broke today that Su Tong's novel The Boat to Redemption was chosen by the Man Asia Literary Prize judges as this year's winner. Su Tong was the only Chinese writer on the long list. The book is to be translated by Howard Goldblatt and published in the UK next February by Transworld UK.

Here's an article from the Guardian with more detail. The following is from the press release from the Peony Literary Agency (née Creative Work) which represents Su Tong.

On Nov 16, 2009, the Man Asian Literary Prize announced in Hong Kong the recipient of the prize. Open to all Asian novels unpublished in English, the prize aims to bring exciting new Asian authors to the attention of the world literary community.

Su Tong's prolific and provocative oeuvre – six novels including Rice (2004) and My Life as Emperor (2006), a dozen novellas, more than 120 short stories – have earned him a place at the centre of China's literary scene. His best known work abroad is the novella Wives and Concubines, which was made into the film Raise the Red Lantern directed by Zhang Yimou and starring Gong Li. The film garnered an Oscar (1991), and won a Bafta in 1993. Su Tong's Binu – The Myth Of Meng Jiang Nu (2006), the tale of the girl whose tears collapsed the Great Wall, sold more than 100,000 copies in China within a month of publication. It has since been sold into 15 countries.

Boat to Redemption which won the award is a raw, charged and unerringly human comedy of the revolution. It is the story of disgraced Secretary Ku who has been banished from the Party and leaves the shore for a new life among the boat people on a fleet of industrial barges. Refusing to renounce his high status, he maintains a distance – with Dongliang, his teenage son, from the lowlifes who surround him and he takes on Life, Fate and the Party in the only way he knows…

For further information, please contact Marysia Juszczakiewicz (in Hong Kong) or Tina Chou (in Beijing) at:
Email: marysia@peonyliteraryagency.com
Tel: (852) 2167 8887
Fax: (852) 2167 8885

Email: tina@peonyliteraryagency.com
Mobile: 137-1866-7210