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Helen Wang is a London-based contributor to Paper Republic and co-tweets with translator Nicky Harman on @cfbcuk (China Fiction Book Club UK). She was one of the original editors of Read Paper Republic - working with Nicky Harman, Dave Haysom and Eric Abrahamsen. In September 2016, she started a new project Chinese books for young readers, with Anna Gustafsson Chen and Minjie Chen. She won the 2017 Marsh Award for Literature in Translation for her translation of Bronze and Sunflower by Cao Wenxuan. In 2017 she was awarded the Chen Bochui "Special Contribution" Award, for her translations and increasing visibility of Chinese children's books.
Translations
Cao Wenxuan's Bronze and Sunflower (children's novel), Walker Books, April 2015. - Cao Wenxuan won the 2016 Hans Christian Andersen Award; Helen Wang won the 2017 Marsh Award for Children's Literature in Translation 曹文轩 《青铜葵花》
Cao Wenxuan's Crows (essay), published in Pathlight Summer 2015, and as Read Paper Republic #15.
曹文轩 《乌鸦》
Cao Wenxuan's A Very Special Pigeon (short story), published by Writing Chinese, 10 Sept 2015; also published as a bilingual book 《凤鸽儿/A Very Special Pigeon》, Renmin wenxue chubanshe/Tiantian chubanshe, 2016)
曹文轩 《一个叫凤的鸽子》
Cao Wenxuan's Huiwa takes a stand (short story/novella), Pathlight; also published as a bilingual book 《灰娃的高地/Huiwa’s Stand》, Renmin wenxue chubanshe/Tiantian chubanshe, 2016)
曹文轩 《灰娃的高地》
Cao Wenxuan's The Cassia Tree (short story/novella), published as a bilingual book 《火桂花/The Cassia Tree》, Renmin wenxue chubanshe/Tiantian chubanshe, 2016)
曹文轩 《火桂花》
Cao Wenxuan's Firebrand (excerpt), published as a bilingual book 《白马雪儿/Looking for Snowy》, Renmin wenxue chubanshe/Tiantian chubanshe, 2016)
曹文轩 《火印》
Du Ma’s Into Parting Arms, in Henry Y. H. Zhao and John Cayley (eds), Under-sky Underground, Wellsweep Press, London, 1994, 219-39.
杜麻（李冯）《投入向分裂的怀抱》
Fan Xiaoqing's Ying Yang Alley (short story), in Chinese Arts and Letters vol.2, no.2 (Oct 2015), pp.28-33, and as Read Paper Republic 44
范小青 《鹰扬巷》
Fan Xiaoqing - interviewed by the editor Yang Haocheng, in Chinese Arts and Letters vol.2, no.2 (Oct 2015), pp. 64-78.
杨昊成 范小青 《写作于我，更多地是享受过程中的创造、宁静和自由 —— 范小青访谈录》
Han Dong's Brand New World (short story), co-translated with Nicky Harman, published on 25 March 2012.
韩东 《崭新世》
C.F. Hu's Ever After - this is from chapter 5 of Floating (a novel in stories) prepared as a sample translation for Books from Taiwan (contact Gray Tan at The Grayhawk Agency for details)
胡晴舫 《懸浮》
Li Jingrui's Missing (short story), published on Read Paper Republic, week 8, 6 August 2015. Subsequently published on the WritingChinese website, November 2015.
李静睿 《失踪》
Lin Man-chiu's The Ventriloquist's Daughter (YA novel), Balestier Press, 2017. 林满秋 《腹語師的女兒》
Lu Min's Xie Bomao R.I.P. (short story), in Chinese Arts and Letters, vol. 1, no. 2, Autumn 2014, pp.128-143. Reprinted on Read Paper Republic, no.20, 29 October 2015.
鲁敏 《谢伯茂之死》
Lu Min - chapter 1 of Dinner For Six (novel) prepared as a sample translation (contact Gray Tan at The Grayhawk Agency for details)
魯敏 《六人晚餐》
Lu Min's A Second Pregnancy, 1980 (essay), published on Read Paper Republic, week 21, 3 November 2015.
鲁敏 《1980年的第二胎》
Lü Yao’s The Steamers Came Alive Again That Night (essay), in Pathlight, Winter 2015.
绿妖《轮船复活之夜》
Ma Yuan’s Mistakes (short story), in Henry Y. H. Zhao (ed.), The Lost Boat: Avant-garde Fiction from China, Wellsweep Press, London, 1993, pp. 29-42.
马原 《错误》
Shen Shixi’s Jackal and Wolf (children’s novel), Egmont, London, 2012. The first chapter is available as a preview ('click to look inside').
沈石溪著 《红豺》
Shi Kang's Sunshine in Winter (short story), translated by Helen Wang, Michelle Deeter, Killiana Liu and Juliet Vine, published in March 2012.
石康 《冬日之光》
Tsen Peng-Wei's The Nowhere School (sample of children's book), published in Books from Taiwan, June 2015.
岑澎維 《找不到國小三部曲》
Wang Anyi's Ah Fang's Lamp (short story), published in The Book of Shanghai, ed. by Dai Congrong and Dr Jin Li (Comma Press, 2020). Read online on Bookanista
Xu Zechen's Galloping Horses (short story), published on the Guardian website, 12 April 2012. Subsequently published with audio version on the WritingChinese website
徐则臣 《奔马》
Ye Mi's Velvet, in Pathlight Autumn 2015, pp. 91-102.
叶弥 《天鹅绒》
Ye Zhaoyan's Police Python 357 (short story) in Chinese Arts and Letters, vol. 2, no. 1 (2015), pp. 6-17.
叶兆言 《左轮三五七》
Yu Hua’s One Kind of Reality (short story), in Henry Y. H. Zhao (ed.), The Lost Boat: Avant-garde Fiction from China, Wellsweep Press, London, 1993, pp. 145-84.
余华 《现实一种》
Yu Hua's How My Books Have Roamed the World (essay), Specimen - The Babel Review of Translations, online publication 21 Sept 2017.
余华 《我的书游荡世界的经历》
Zhang Chengzhi’s The Way of Heaven – Beginning of Autumn (essay), in Henry Y. H. Zhao and John Cayley (eds), Under-sky Underground, Wellsweep Press, London, 1994, pp. 145-48.
张承志 《天道立秋》
Zhang Langlang's The Legend of the Sun Brigade (essay), in Henry Y. H. Zhao and John Cayley (eds), Under-sky Underground, Wellsweep Press, London, 1994, pp. 87-95.
张朗朗 《太阳纵队》
Zhang Xinxin's IT84
(novel) Originally published as a novella in Shanghai Wenxue 2015.12, it was rewritten as a novel, and published in 2018. Five chapters of the novel were translated into French by Brigitte Duzan and published in Jentayu 10 (summer 2019). I translated the same five chapters into English - available online
张辛欣 《IT84》
Zhang Xinxin's Dragonworld (short story), published on the Guardian website, 12 April 2012, and in the Read Paper Republic Afterlives series, 3 Nov 2016 (read here, with introduction by the author)
张辛欣 《龙的食谱》
Zhang Xinxin's Pai Hua Zi and the Clever Girl (graphic novel), published by Zhang Xinxin on ibooks, August 2012, Part 1 (includes free 20-page preview) and Part 2
张辛欣 《拍花子和俏女孩》
Zhang Xinxin's Self-portrait (essay) - available online and as Read Paper Republic 45
张辛欣 《自画像》
Zhang Xinxin's Mad About Orchids (short story) - available online
张辛欣 《疯狂的君子兰》
Zhang Xinxin's The Adventures of a Graphic Novelist - available online
张辛欣 《小人书画家历险记》
Zhang Xinxin's After the Inferno, in Words Without Borders, 1 Nov 2017 - available online
张辛欣 - excerpt from her book 《我 Me》
Zhou Jianing's Let Us Talk About Something Else, in Pathlight, Summer 2014, 34-43.
周嘉宁 《让我们聊些别的》
Zhu Hui's Just You Wait, in Pathlight, 2017.
朱辉 《要你好看》
PICTURE BOOKS
CeeCee, by Mao XIAO and Chunmiao LI, Candied Plums, 2016
萧袤: 《西西》
Express Delivery from Dinosaur World, by Yanan DONG, Candied Plums, 2016
董亚楠: 《恐龙快递》
The Frog and the Boy, by Mao XIAO, Wei CHEN, Xiaomin HUANG, Candied Plums, 2016
萧袤: 《青蛙与男孩》
An’s Seed, by Zaozao WANG and Li HUANG, Candied Plums, 2016
王早早: 《安的种子》
Flame, by Zhucheng LIANG, Candied Plums, 2016
朱成梁: 《火焰》
Little Rabbit’s Questions, by Da You, Candied Plums, 2016
大友： 《小兔的问题》
Tan Hou and the Double Sixth Festival, by CAI Gao et al, Balestier Press, London & Singapore, 2016
作者: 向华 / 邬朝祝 整理 / 绘者 蔡皋 : 《晒龙袍的六月六》
Bibbit Jumps, by Bei Lynn, Gecko Press, 2020
林小杯:《步步蛙很愛跳》
The Mask that Loved to Count, by Luo Xi, Cardinal Media Kids, 2020
爱数数的口罩
The Empty Bowl, by AI Wener, Cardinal Media Kids, 2020
空饭盒
Grandpa's 14 Games, by Zhao Ling, Cardinal Media Kids, 2020
爷爷的14个游戏
A Journey of 600 Inches, by Zhang Xiaoling, Cardinal Media Kids, 2020
九千毫米的旅行
Levin the cat, by Tao Jiu, Cardinal Media Kids, 2020
列文是只猫
Mom is Hiding, by Qian Mo, Cardinal Media Kids, 2020
躲起来的妈妈
I am Hua Mulan, by Qin Wenjun, Balestier Press, 2020
我是花木兰
Myna Bird as Free as a Cloud, by Bai Bing, Balestier Press, 2020
云朵一样的八哥
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 |
| Dragonworld | November 03, 2016 | |
| 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, April 15, '12
http://harvard.academia.edu/DavidYao/Blog
From David Yao's blog, 7 November 2011:
Dr. Bethune’s Children by Xue Yiwei
Dr. Bethune’s Children was described as a masterpiece that “would go down into history” by Shouhuo and Huacheng, two top Chinese literary magazines....
By Helen Wang, April 15, '12
http://www.bl.uk/whatson/events/event127226.html
Shi Cheng: City Stories from China - The official launch at the London Book Fair 2012
Featuring Han Dong, Xu Zechen, Julia Lovell and Nicky Harman
Wednesday 18th April, 6.30pm - 8pm
Conference Centre, British Library, 96 Euston Road, London, NW1 2DB
By Helen Wang, April 14, '12
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/apr/14/dragonworld-zhang-xinxin-story-china
The 5th (and last) of the 5 short stories published by The Guardian this week.
Dragonworld by Zhang Xinxin, translated by Helen Wang
Zhang Xinxin – accompanied by her teenage alter-ego Zhaishao – investigates the source of an invasion in Dragonworld, translated by Helen Wang
With podcast of the author reading this story in Chinese
By Helen Wang, April 13, '12
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/apr/13/curse-a-yi-story-china
The 4th of the 5 stories published by The Guardian this week.
The Curse by A Yi, translated by Julia Lovell. The loss of a chicken brings simmering village tensions to the boil in this story from A Yi, translated by Julia Lovell
By Helen Wang, April 13, '12
The Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2012 - current news items
The Guardian, 12 April 2012: Independent foreign fiction prize shortlist announced - Chinese novel about Aids scandal up against Umberto Eco for £10,000 prize
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/apr/12/independent-foreign-fiction-prize-2012-shortlist?newsfeed=true
The Independent, 13 April 2012: 'Independent' Foreign Fiction Prize shortlist: A whole world in their words
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/independent-foreign-fiction-prize-shortlist-a-whole-world-in-their-words-7640234.html
By Helen Wang, April 12, '12
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/apr/12/galloping-horses-xu-zechen-short-story
The 3rd of the 5 stories published by The Guardian this week.
Galloping Horses by Xu Zechen, translated by Helen Wang.
Soybean dreams of riding one of the horses which gallop along the road in front of the melon shack in this story by Xu Zechen...
By Helen Wang, April 11, '12
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2012/apr/11/china-epublishing-revolution-freedom?intcmp=239
China's e-publishing revolution puts writers on a fast track to freedom article by Nicky Harman.
A new phenomenon in China – fiction published exclusively online – is giving young writers the opportunity to get their work read quickly and free from censorship
By Helen Wang, April 11, '12
CMR Special Issue: Key Concepts in Understanding the Chinese (posted by "gchen" gchen@etal.uri.edu on H-ASIA@H-NET.MSU.EDU)
Special Issue: Key Concepts in Understanding the Chinese
China Media Research, Volume 7, Number 4, 2011
http://www.chinamediaresearch.net/
By Helen Wang, April 11, '12
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/apr/11/old-man-xinjiang-xue-mo-story
This is the 2nd of the 5 short stories in The Guardian this week.
Editor's intro: Old Man Xinjiang by Xue Mo, translated by Nicky Harman. It's time for Old Man Xinjiang to head home, but not before he's been to see 'her'. Xue Mo reflects on the ebb and flow of life in the Chinese countryside in this story translated by Nicky Harman
By Helen Wang, April 11, '12
Chinese Literature - A Very Short Introduction, by Sabina Knight, Oxford University Press, 3 Feb 2012 - 137 pages
Publisher's intro: Perhaps nowhere else has literature been as conscious a collective endeavor as in China, and China's survival over three thousand years may owe more to its literary traditions than to its political history. This Very Short Introduction tells the story of Chinese literature from antiquity to the present, focusing on the key role literary culture played in supporting social and political concerns...
By Helen Wang, April 9, '12
I've tried to put together a list of the prize-winners and prize-winning titles for the Bing Xin Children's Literature Prize ( 冰心儿童文学奖). I've put it up under Resources for Translators. If anyone can improve upon this list, please do so!
By Helen Wang, April 8, '12
http://globetoglobe.shakespearesglobe.com/
Globe to Globe
Richard III - National Theatre of China (28-29 April 2012) - in Mandarin
Titus Andronicus - Tang Shu-wing Theatre Studio (3-4 May 2012) - in Cantonese
By Helen Wang, April 7, '12
http://hkupress.org/Common/Reader/Products/ShowProduct.jsp?Pid=1&Version=0&Cid=16&Charset=iso-8859-1&page=-1&key=9789888083527
Humour in Chinese Life and Letters – Classical and Traditional Approaches, ed. by Jocelyn Chey and Jessica Milner Davis, Hong Kong University Press, 2011.
By Helen Wang, April 6, '12
http://www.globaltimes.cn/NEWS/tabid/99/ID/703463/The-art-of-translation.aspx [via MCLC - kirk (denton.2@osu.edu) - Subject: new doc on translators]
'The art of translation' by Lu Qianwen, Global Times, 5 April 2012:
'A new documentary series profiling China's 30 most influential translators premiered in Beijing in late March. The documentary series, A Life-long Pursuit, focuses on China's older generation of translation specialists and highlights their impact on the world and Chinese culture.
By Helen Wang, April 4, '12
http://zackerium.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/review-bridge-of-birds-novel-of-ancient.html
Almost every day there is news of a novel set in China, either a new publication or a re-discovery. Although such titles are not 'Chinese literature in translation', they do throw some light on that question of 'what do readers like?' Here's the latest (it was written in the 80s)...
Barry Hughart's Bridge of Birds: A Novel of an Ancient China That Never Was (The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox)
