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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, September 11, '12
Paper by Liu Qian, University of Oxford
British Association for Chinese Studies (BACS) Annual Conference, 3-5 September 2012.
Full list of abstracts here
By Helen Wang, September 11, '12
Paper by Chen Szuchi (Chung Yuan Christian University, Taiwan)
British Association for Chinese Studies (BACS) Annual Conference, 3-5 September 2012.
Full list of abstracts here
By Helen Wang, September 10, '12
Report by Antje Richter on the workshop that took place recently at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Some letters are literary, some are historical.
For more on the conference, see details
From details posted on H-Asia
By Helen Wang, September 8, '12
Another Lin Yutang moment - this one relates to tragedy and tragic figures in Chinese literature
"It is passion that is the soul of life, the light in the stars, the lilt in music and song, the joy in flowers, the plumage in birds, the charm in woman, and the life in scholarship. It is as impossible to speak of a soul without passion as to speak of music without expression. It is that which gives us inward warmth and the rich vitality which enables us to face life cheerily.
Or perhaps I am wrong in choosing the word ‘passion’ when I speak of what the Chinese writers refer to as qing 情. Should I translate it by the word ‘sentiment’, which is gentler and suggests less of the tumultuous qualities of stormy passion?
By Helen Wang, September 7, '12
Having come across the name and words of Lin Yutang (1895-1976) several times this week, I pulled my old copy of The Importance of Living from the shelf, blew off the dust, and was delighted to find Appendix B: A Chinese Critical Vocabulary. It's written for the general reader, and includes 81 specific terms and many more in and amongst:
eg. 48. 豓 yan: voluptuous, georgeously beautiful, dazzlingly beautiful, passionate. eg. the peony, Mae West.
eg. 67. 瘦 shou: thin, slender. This is a strangely beautiful word in the Chinese language. Slender rocks and bamboos are always painted together. It expresses non-sensuous beauty.
By Helen Wang, September 1, '12
Data compiled from the entry 中国作家富豪榜 on www.baidu.com
Chinese Writers’ Rich List 2011
1. Guo Jingming 郭敬明 (2010 - no.1 // 2009 - no.2 // 2008 - no.1)
2. Nan Pai San Shu 南派三叔 (2010 – no.14)
3. Zheng Yuanjie 郑渊洁 (2010 – no.3 // 2009 – no.1 // 2008 – no.2)
4. Yang Hongying 杨红樱 (2010 – no.1 // 2009 – no.3 // 2008 – no.3)
5. Anni Baobei 安妮宝贝 (2008 – no.22)
6. Jiang Nan 江南
7. Dang Nian Ming Yue 当年明月 (2010 – no.4 // 2009 – no.4 // 2008 – no.15)
8. Lang Xianping 郎咸平 (2010 – no.6)
9. Han Han 韩寒 (2010 – no.8 // 2009 – no.8 // 2008 – no.18)
10. Cai Kangyong 蔡康永
By Helen Wang, August 31, '12
Thought I'd look around and see what kind of reading guides there are for reading groups and bookclubs who might be interested in Chinese fiction. There's a website called readinggroupguides which has a lot of China-related books (fiction, non-fiction, memoirs) and Harper Collins has a few China-related books in and amongst its Reading Guides. There are probably more, but this is all I could find.
By Helen Wang, August 28, '12
Three books...
On sex in China, see Behind the Red Door: Sex in China, by Richard Burger,Earnshaw Books, Sept 2012. For more info, see here
By Helen Wang, August 27, '12
This is really good...
The New York Review of Books China Archive is a collaborative project of ChinaFile and The New York Review of Books. The archive is currently under construction. When complete, it will contain a full and easily searchable collection of China-related essays and reviews that The New York Review of Books has published since its founding in 1963.
By Helen Wang, August 26, '12
Ever had the feeling that there's a toilet scene in every Chinese story you read? Maram Epstein (Princeton) explains why...
By Helen Wang, August 25, '12
Yiyun Li, translator of the letters of Chinese writer Shen Congwen, tells the story of his extremely persistent courtship of his wife, a student of his at a University, and the concerned chancellor who was caught in between. To hear more about Congwen's writing, letters, and life (and more of Li's delightful commentary) listen to the full audio of her TWO LINES reading at http://catranslation.org/blogpost/two-voices-with-author-yiyun-shen-congwen
By Helen Wang, August 23, '12
I couldn't find any of Xu's work translated into English, so I've made a quick attempt at translating one of the last pieces he wrote, published in Beijing Qingnian Bao in June.
徐怀谦：想象力和比想象力更重要的 北京青年报, 2012年06月23日 09:37 http://news.ifeng.com/opinion/society/detail_2012_06/23/15506341_0.shtml?_from_ralated
By Helen Wang, August 18, '12
Tibetan Soul Stories by Alai, translated by Karen Gernant and Chen Zeping.
Alai has said that he seeks to demystify Tibet and to depict the Tibetan reality—the “noun” rather than the “adjectivized” Tibet offered by some outsiders. The stories collected here present various Tibetan realities, some drawn from legends, others inspired by daily life, by his home village, and by his extensive travels through the region.
Merwin Asia, February 2012, distributed by University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-1-937385-09-5 // ISBN 978-1-937385-08-8
By Helen Wang, August 18, '12
Ripple on Stagnant Water, A Novel of Sichuan in the Age of Treaty Ports, by Li Jieren, translated by Bret Sparling and Yin Chi.
In the small market town of Heaven’s Turn on the Chengdu Plain, a simple-minded shopkeeper has married a beautiful village girl who is determined to rise above her station. Li Jieren’s novel is populated with gangsters, prostitutes, farmers, dilettantes, bureaucrats and Christian converts, all drawn from the author’s familiar acquaintance.
Merwin Asia, due Sept 2012, distributed by University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-1-937385-25-5 // ISBN 978-1-937385-24-8
By Helen Wang, August 18, '12
Endless War Fiction and Essays by Wang Wen-Hsing, edited by Shu-ning Sciban and Fred Edwards.
This volume consists of translations of twenty-four fictional works and five essays by one of the most celebrated modernist writers in Taiwan and the recipient of Taiwan’s most prestigious National Culture and Arts Award (Literature Category).
Cornell University East Asia Program, 2011 : Cornell East Asia Series 158 Distributed by University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-1-933947-28-0 // ISBN 978-1-933497-58-7
