2024 Roll-Call of Chinese Literature in English Translation

By Jack Hargreaves, published

'Tis the end of 2024 (Where it's gone? Don't ask me.) and that means it's time for the annual roll-call of Chinese-language literature published in English translation.

It has been a mixed year, with, on the plus side, there being more women authors published than in 2023, and just more works of fiction in general -- more prizewinning works of fiction, too.

But there does seem to be less poetry. And when I say there are more works by women than there has been, the increase isn't dramatic. In fact, you might say that this year is, on the whole, a return to business as usual after the post-Covid years -- those weren't fallow years, but they were lower yield.

Still, it's a really exciting list of titles which includes some of my favourite reads from 2024, full-stop. I'm also confident that we've missed some works out, especially when it comes to poetry, so please do drop any absent titles in the comments below and we'll make sure to add them. The same goes for any particularly glowing reviews you've come across, or prize announcements (we've mostly included winners, but please also share any shortlisted or longlisted works).

Special mentions go to translators Jennifer Feeley and Lin King for bringing us five showstoppers between them, with Mourning a Breast and Tongueless, and Taiwan Travelogue, Cloud Labour and book two of The Boy From Clearwater, respectively.

I'll mention here that we have always compiled these lists manually, but there is now a campaign to help make it easier to generate lists from existing library databases, so do check that out.

That's all for this year -- we'll call it a plentiful one and reserve the right to change our minds depending on if this slight uptick continues. Personal apologies from me that we’re publishing this too late for the Christmas shopping. But there's always 2025!

PRIZES

Winner of the 2024 National Book Award for Translated Literature: Taiwan Travelogue: A Novel, Yang Shuang-zi, translated by Lin King.

Winner of the 2024 Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize: Ko-hua Chen, Decapitated Poetry, translated by Wen-chi Li and Colin Bramwell (Seagull Books).

Winner of the Northern California Book Award (Poetry in Translation): Derek Chung, A Cha Chaan Teng That Does Not Exist, translated by May Huang (Zephyr Press). This book was also shortlisted for 2024 Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize.

Winner of the 2023 Freeman Award for Best Young Adult - Middle & High School graphic novel: Yu Pei-Yun, The Boy From Clearwater, Book 1, translated by Lin King.

Winner of the 2024 John Glassco Translation Prize: Yilin Wang, The Lantern and the Night Moths (Qiu Jin, Fei Ming, Dai Wangshu, Zhang Qiaohui, and Xiao Xi).

Winner of the John Leonard Prize, 2023 National Book Critics Circle Award: Tahir Hamut Izgil, Waiting to Be Arrested at Night: A Uyghur Poet’s Memoir of China’s Genocide, translated by Joshua L. Freeman.

Winner of the Zbigniew Herbert International Literary Award: Yang Lian, A Tower Built Downwards, translated by Brian Holton. This book was also shortlisted for the PEN Heaney Prize 2024.

Winner of the Singapore Literature Prize in the newly created Best Translation category: Cocoon by Zhang Yueran, translated by Jeremy Tiang.

PEN Translates grants won by Hai Fan, Delicious Hunger, tr. Jeremy Tiang (Tilted Axis Press), and Chen Chuncheng, A Submarine in the Night, tr. Jack Hargreaves (Honford Star, now being translated by Natascha Bruce).

PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grants won by Chiang-Sheng Kuo, A Time No More, tr. Jack Hargreaves, and Ye Hui, The Ruins, tr. Dong Li.

Shortlisted for Sarah Maguire Prize, Medal for Excellence in Translation (Australian Academy of the Humanities): Jiang Tao, For A Splendid Sunny Apocalypse translated by Josh Stenberg (Zephyr Press).

REVIEWS

Tongueless, Kirkus Reviews

“A taut, chilling novel about the weaponization of language as a tool of oppression.”

And by Leah Rachel von Essen

“...a powerful work about the perils of an individualistic culture framed by a false meritocracy—set within the dramas of a school system shifting under societal pressure.”

And by May Huang

“The two characters mirror each other, an irony captured by the literal mirrors that appear in the novel. Wai’s cubicle has a “boundless sea of mirrors” that remain on her desk even after her death. In a chilling scene, Wai moves the mirror in her hand to reflect Ling, then swings it back to herself, repeatedly. She asks Ling: “In fact, what’s the difference between me and you?” The mirrors reflect how the characters are under constant self-scrutiny, obsessing over how they look, behave, and, of course, speak.”

Taiwan Travelogue, review by Shahnaz Habib

“...a delightfully slippery novel about how power shapes relationships, and what travel reveals and conceals.”

Fang Si-Chi’s First Love Paradise, review by Lauren Yu-Ting Bo

“...not only a heroine’s epic, borrowing conventions from Milton’s epic that he himself borrowed from Greek and Roman antiquity, but also a coming-of-age story that puts forward a blistering critique of the social norms that enable abuse and corruption, the education system in Taiwan that fosters power dynamics and vulnerability among schoolchildren, and the ways that society fails to protect and empower women.”

"The Unfilial*, review by Hayley Zhao

“Readers praised Yao for painting a grim yet accurate picture of how different women’s destinies are shaped by the troublesome men around them. 'The four short stories capture the experience of millions,' writes one reviewer.”

The 2024 list

FICTION

GRAPHIC NOVEL

NON-FICTION

POETRY

SCIFI

DANMEI NOVELS

CHILDREN AND YOUNG ADULT

Comments

# 1.   

It’s always interesting to see what’s being translated into other languages as well. Here’s a round-up of Chinese>Dutch translations in 2024 - thanks to Annelous Stiggelbout on her blog chinezenlezen.blogspot.com

Helen Wang, December 28, 2024, 7:53a.m.

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