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Helen Wang is a UK-based translator and co-founder of Chinese Books for Young Readers (2016-). She works collaboratively with Paper Republic, the Leeds Centre for New Chinese Writing, World Kid Lit, and Global Literature in Libraries Initiative. She was active on Twitter: China Fiction Book Club, with Nicky Harman (2012-2025); Translated World (2013-2025).
Awards:
2017 Marsh Award for Literature in Translation for her translation of Bronze and Sunflower by Cao Wenxuan
2017 Chen Bochui Special Contribution Award, for translation and increasing visibility of Chinese children's books
2025 Shenzhen Reading Month's Translator of the Year
Other publications
The Music of Ink at the British Museum (edited volume featuring Yang Lian, Romesh Gunesekera, Denis Brown, Qu Lei Lei, Rohan de Saram, Zeng Laide and Wang Tao), Saffron Books, London, 2012. Info here
Is Gao Xingjian’s play Chezhan merely a blind worship of modern Western plays as the critic He Wen claims? How far can Chezhan be compared with Beckett’s Waiting for Godot?, Bulletin of the British Association for Chinese Studies, 1986, pp. 83-89. Available here
Interviews and short pieces
Interview, with Julie Sullivan, in Words and Pictures (SCBWI), 7 Oct 2018.
Interview, with Nanette McGuinness, in SCBWI, The Blog, 7 Sept 2017.
Interview, with Eric Abrahamsen, for Paper Republic, April 2016. in English and in Chinese
Interview, with Daniel Hahn, in Books for Keeps.
On "Bronze and Sunflower" in LARB China Blog, 13 April 2016
Translating Children's Books - a short piece for Books from Taiwan (2015)
Learning about Chinese children's books - interview with Zoe Toft for Playing by the Book, 27 April 2015
Bronze and Sunflower - Ann Morgan's Book of the Month, April 2015
Guest Interview: Helen Wang on Children's Book Translation, interviewed by Avery Fischer Udagawa for Cynthia Leitich Smith's "Cynsations" blog, 26 May 2015
Review by Nicky Harman of Bronze and Sunflower in Tribune 6 March 2015
| Small Town | by Li Jingrui | October 11, 2018 |
| Self-Portrait | by Zhang Xinxin | April 21, 2016 |
| Ying Yang Alley | by Fan Xiaoqing | April 14, 2016 |
| Sunshine in Winter | by Shi Kang tr. Michelle Deeter, Killiana Liu, Juliet Vine and Helen Wang | January 14, 2016 |
| A Second Pregnancy, 1980 | by Lu Min | November 03, 2015 |
| Xie Bomao R.I.P. | by Lu Min | October 29, 2015 |
| Crows | by Cao Wenxuan | September 24, 2015 |
| Missing | by Li Jingrui | August 06, 2015 |
The Paper Republic database exists for reference purposes only. We are not the publisher of these works, are not responsible for their contents, and cannot provide digital or paper copies.
By Helen Wang, March 19, '12
Well, this came as a surprise! I spotted an article about crime fiction in Le Monde diplomatique written by Michel Imbert, then wondered who Monsieur Imbert might be. It turns out he is Mi Jianxiu, the author of five crime fiction novels. His books are listed as written by Mi Jianxiu, translated by Michel Imbert.
By Helen Wang, March 19, '12
Utopia, Dystopia, Heterotopias: From Lu Xun to Liu Cixin, a lecture by David Der-wei Wang at Peking University on May 17, 2011, translated into English by Emma Xu.
By Helen Wang, March 19, '12
From http://english.eastday.com/e/120315/u1a6428016.html
Science fiction – four stories published in the March edition of People’s Literature
By Helen Wang, March 19, '12
From Chinese Science Fiction Newsletter, December 2011:
In 2012 Mainland China will produce two hundred Science Fiction Books...
By Helen Wang, March 18, '12
New book:
Xiaohui Yuan, Politeness and Audience Response in Chinese-English Subtitling (Peter Lang, Oxford / New Trends in Translation Studies 10, 2012), ISBN 978-3-0343-0732-1
By Helen Wang, March 18, '12
The BBC's new Lingo Show (aimed at pre-schoolers) launched recently, and its first show, with the title Chop Chop, featured Wei, the Mandarin-speaking bug, who karate chops bananas. Whoever thought that one up?
By Helen Wang, March 18, '12
A recent posting on Paper Republic on recycled book covers prompted me to take a look at Chinese cover design (I’m a bit bored with the Shanghai beauties approach). I found a few, but I suspect I have missed something essential – any recommendations?
By Helen Wang, March 17, '12
From Ethnic China Lit
By Helen Wang, March 17, '12
The February 2012 issue of Shanghai Literature features the following authors:
By Helen Wang, March 17, '12
While searching for podcasts and recordings of authors reading their own works I came across several sites on storytelling in China. Here are two that I liked: notes on storytelling (1998) by Richard Van Ness Simmons and shuoshu.org which focuses on traditional storytelling and storytellers in Yangzhou.
By Helen Wang, March 17, '12
The Scramble for China: Foreign Devils in the Qing Empire, 1832-1914 by Robert Bickers
as reviewed this week by P.D. Smith in The Guardian
as discussed (in an interview with the author) by Jeffrey Wasserstrom in The China Beat
and as reviewed by Chris Patten in The Financial Times
Robert Bickers' books are always really well researched and a pleasure to read ... as are the websites he develops - Visualising China is a stunning collection of photographs of China, 1850-1950.
By the way, I know that this is not fiction, but he's such a good writer and he knows his stuff. And the historical photos are a brilliant resource for translators - for example, if you ever need to know what Bubbling Well Road looked like in 1919 you can find it on the website and on the blog.
By Helen Wang, March 16, '12
From Goodreads.com, a website where people recommend books they have enjoyed. I'm not sure that they all take place in China though...
Novels That Take Place in China (Must be a novel (fiction) and must take place in China. No restriction on time period.)
By Helen Wang, March 16, '12
From Goodreads.com, a website where people recommend books they have enjoyed.
The Best Books by Mainland Chinese authors, including those currently living abroad
By Helen Wang, March 16, '12
From Goodreads.com, a website where people recommend books they have enjoyed.
By Helen Wang, March 15, '12
Here they are, as recommended by amazon.com…
