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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, October 18, '14
Please address inquiries or submissions to the editors at chineseartsletters@gmail.com or chineseartsletters@163.com (The deadline for inquiries for issue No. 3 is December 31, 2014; the deadline for submissions is January 31, 2015.)
CAL, vol. 1, no. 2 - Contents - see below
By Helen Wang, September 8, '14
Copied from Writing Chinese website:
Saturday November 1st, 2014. Public talk @11am – 1pm. Translation masterclass@ 2pm – 5pm. Venue to be announced (University of Leeds)
For our morning event, which is open to the general public (no registration required), author Yan Ge and her translator Nicky Harman will be talking about their work together. Yan Ge’s novella White Horse, translated by Nicky, will be released in October by Hope Road Publishing. And for a taster of more of Yan Ge’s work and why Nicky recommends it so highly, have a look at this recent article in Words Without Borders.
Our afternoon event is a literary translation masterclass, led by the author and her translator, and is open to anyone interested in the translation of contemporary Chinese fiction into English.
The masterclass is free but registration is required. If you’d like to attend, please email us at writingchinese@leeds.ac.uk. We will then email all attendees in advance with the text that we’ll be translating on the day.
We’re also pleased to announce that the masterclass will be followed by the launch of the Bai Meigui Literary Translation Competition. More details to follow soon!
By Helen Wang, April 1, '13
At the end of last week on twitter this question was posed: why don't people complain about poor quality Chinese>English translations? Good manners prevailed (no one was named and shamed), and as a critical session was not forthcoming, @cfbcuk held an ad-hoc Weekend Challenge to turn the question around and try to identify the 10 best translated Chinese books. For those who aren’t on twitter, but who might be interested, we’ll post the results below. The challenge was open to all, and while some eminent people participated (thank you!) we were also happy to include translated titles that people have enjoyed reading (thank you too!). In the end we received more than 10 titles. Here they are, in no particular order, except for The Story of the Stone, which was the clear favourite.
By Helen Wang, February 23, '13
This week I came across these two expressions for the first time. I'm about curious to know if there are Chinese translations of these expressions; if they come up in discussion in China; and if so, what people are saying?
By Helen Wang, February 10, '13
Happy New Year from the China Fiction Book Club (especially if you were born in the year of the snake, the most unloved/ feared/ despised of the 12 animals). Here's what we posted on twitter (@cfbcuk) earlier...
金蛇出洞！Hoping that the Year of the Snake ("little dragon") will be a good year! Some very famous Chinese writers were born in the Year of the Snake: Qu Yuan 屈原; Lu You 陆游; Wu Jingzi 吴敬梓; Lu Xun 鲁讯, Mao Zedong 毛泽东.
[Source: http://www.shengxiao5.cn/shengxiao/6/shengxiao500.htm …]
By Helen Wang, February 10, '13
My surprise last week at the Chinese New Year display and stock of Chinese fiction at Watermark Books in King's Cross Station was because most bookshops in London stock very few Chinese books (and then mostly on the X,Y,Z shelf). What's more, the staff usually know next-to-nothing about the Chinese fiction they're selling (Mo Yan? Who?). The exception is Arthur Probsthain Bookshop (known to locals as Probsthain’s) which always has a range of Chinese fiction on display and for sale, not just at Chinese New Year, and has knowledgeable staff.
Arthur Probsthain Bookshop specialises in Asian, Middle Eastern and African books, and is located at 41 Great Russell Street, opposite the British Museum. The business was founded in 1902 on Bury Place (round the corner) and has been at its current location since 1903. It is still a family-run business. Recently refurbished, there is now a bookshop and gallery at street level, and a very nice café called Tea and Tattle downstairs. There’s also a branch of Probsthain’s at the School of Oriental & African Studies (SOAS), a short walk away. Michael Sheringham, the great-nephew of Arthur Probsthain, has supplied details of the Chinese fiction currently on display for Chinese New Year.
By Helen Wang, February 3, '13
Having heard that Watermark Books in Kings Cross station (London) was doing a promotion on China-related titles, I went to take a look this afternoon. They have a small table, piled with about a dozen non-fiction titles (eg by Yang Jiping, Frank Dikotter, Fuschia Dunlop, Henry Kissinger, Julia Lovell, Martin Jacques), a dozen fiction titles and a couple of books for children. If anyone’s interested, I’ve put some photos on twitter @cfbcuk . By Chinese standards this is a tiny display, but for a non-specialist bookshop in the UK, and bear in mind that this is a small bookshop located in a railway station, it’s quite impressive. This is the first Watermark Books in the UK; there are other Watermark Books in other countries, also located in station/airport locations.
The fiction and children’s books on the table were all produced by Better Link Press, Shanghai Press & Publishing Development Company 上海新闻出版发展公司. There were also some glossy posters behind the till desk, so I assume that the publisher is involved in the promotion, or at least is the source of the fiction books, children’s books, and the decorations. They had a couple of other China-related titles on their regular shelves : the Penguin Classics edition of The Analects, and The Flowers of War, by Geling Yan, translated by Nicky Harman. When I pointed these out, they added them to the table display.
By Helen Wang, December 7, '12
I’ve pulled out all the Chinese titles in the Penguin Classics series, giving one link per title – but some titles have more than one edition and at different prices, so you might want to check which one you want. I’ve also tweeted each title (with link) on @cfbcuk
The discount code is PenguinAdvent
By Helen Wang, December 6, '12
Du Fu was born in 712, and would have been 1300 years old in 2012! Rather than let this momentous occasion slip by unnoticed, I checked with Du Fu aficionado Brian Holton if there had been any celebrations. We haven’t heard of any, so we’d like to propose that we squeeze in a celebration before the end of the year. We don’t know his actual birthday, so have plumped for 12.12.12 as it’s easy to remember, and propose that we designate this day (12 December) hereafter as Du Fu Day.
By Helen Wang, November 29, '12
Data compiled from the entry 2012第七届中国作家富豪榜 on www.baidu.com.
Chinese Writers’ Rich List 2012
1. Zheng Yuanjie 郑渊洁 (2011 – no.3 // 2010 – no.3 // 2009 – no.1 // 2008 – no.2)
2. Mo Yan 莫言
3. Yang Hongying 杨红樱 (2011 – no.4 // 2010 – no.1 // 2009 – no.3 // 2008 – no.3)
4. Guo Jingming 郭敬明 (2011 – no.1 // 2010 - no.1 // 2009 - no.2 // 2008 - no.1)
5. Jiang Nan 江南 (2011 – no.6)
6. Yu Dan 于丹 (2011 – no.25 // 2008 – no.7)
7. Han Han 韩寒 (2011 – no.9 // 2010 – no.8 // 2009 – no.8 // 2008 – no.18)
8. An Dongni 按东尼
9. Nan Pai San Shu 南派三叔 (2011 – no.2 // 2010 – no.14)
10. Dang Nian Ming Yue 当年明月 (2011 – no.7 // 2010 – no.4 // 2009 – no.4 // 2008 – no.15)
By Helen Wang, November 24, '12
Are there any copies of Sheng Keyi's Northern Girls or Wang Xiaofang's The Civil Servant's Notebook on sale in the UK? Christmas is coming and I was thinking these might make good presents, but it's not easy to get copies of them in the UK. I contacted Penguin China, and it appears they have been launched in the Asia Pacific territory, and the best way is to try and get ebook editions on Penguin.com.au, or to place orders in Australia, or ask a friend to bring them in the luggage. Is anyone in the UK selling these titles?
By Helen Wang, November 17, '12
Twitter @cfbcuk
Founded by Nicky Harman in 2010, welcoming everyone interested in Chinese fiction in English.
Meets every 6-8 weeks in London - next meeting will be on 16 January 2013.
By Helen Wang, November 8, '12
(via H-Asia) New Journal: Asian Literature and Translation (ALT): A Journal of Religion and Culture. ISSN: 2051-5863
Asian Literature and Translation (ALT) is an open access, peer-reviewed, online journal established by the Centre for the History of Religion in Asia (CHRA), Cardiff University. The main objective of the journal is to publish research papers, translations, and reviews in the field of Asian religious literature (construed in the widest sense) in a form that makes them quickly and easily accessible to the international academic community, to professionals in related fields, such as theatre and storytelling, and to the general public.
By Helen Wang, October 29, '12
The Blue Sky (Der blaue Himmel) by Galsan Tschinag is Ann Morgan's choice (see her blog, 27 Oct). It's from Mongolia rather than China, but about life in the Altai mountains.
Ann Morgan has set herself the Herculean task of reading a book/story from each of 196 countries within 12 months. Her deadline is 31 December 2012. It's a great blog - so interesting. But what will she recommend for China?!
By Helen Wang, October 25, '12
Just read Xiaolu Guo's story Then the Game Begins in which two lovers drive round and round the ringroads in Beijing. It reminded me of another story in which two close friends drive round and round the ringroads - Shi Kang's story, Sunshine in Winter. Until now I've always associated cars on the Beijing ringroads with traffic jams and stress, but maybe the ringroads are associated with long hours of intimacy and late at night? Do they feature in lots of stories?
