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Nicky Harman lives in the UK. She translates full-time from Chinese, focussing on contemporary fiction, literary non-fiction, and occasionally poetry, by a wide variety of authors. When not translating, she spends time promoting contemporary Chinese fiction to English-language readers. She works for Paper-Republic.org, a non-profit registered in the UK, where she is also a trustee. She writes blogs (for instance Asian Books Blog), give talks and lectures, and takes part in literary events and festivals, especially with the Leeds Centre for New Chinese Writing. She also mentors new translators, teaches summer schools (Norwich, London, Warwick and Bristol), and judges translation competitions. She tweets, with Helen Wang, as the China Fiction Bookclub @cfbcuk.
She taught on the MSc in Translation at Imperial College until 2011 and was co-Chair of the Translators Association (Society of Authors) 2014-2017.
Winner of the 2020 Special Book Award of China; the 2015 Mao Tai Cup People's Literature Chinese-English translation prize; and of first prize in the 2013 China International Translation Contest, Chinese-to-English section, with Jia Pingwa’s "Backflow River", 倒流河
Forthcoming publications:
Beijing Boys, A Novel (《男孩们》) Annabel Yang Hao, co-translated with Michael Day, Balestier, 2024
Fellow Feelings, Collected stories by Han Dong, co-translated with Megan Copeland and Jack Hargreaves, no publications details yet
2023 publications:
Shaanxi Opera, （《秦腔》）, Jia Pingwa, co-translated with Dylan Levi King, Amazon Crossing, 2023.
The Sojourn Teashop （《暂坐》）, Jia Pingwa, co-translated with Jun Liu, Sinoist Books, 2023
2022 publications:
Flight of the Bumblebee (《野蜂飞舞》）Huang Beijia, Balestier , 2023
Wake Me Up at Nine in the Morning, (《早上九点叫醒我》）, A Yi, Oneworld
Literary Lectures (《文学课》) , by Bi Feiyu, Routledge
Dinner for Six (《六人晚餐》), co-translated with Helen Wang, Balestier
I Want to be Good (《我要做好孩子》) , Huang Beijia, New Classic Books
2021 publications:
More Than One Child: Memoirs of an Illegal Daughter, Shen Yang, Balestier
2020 publications:
Oriental Silk, by Zhu Xiaowen, Hatje Cantz (Germany)
2019 publications:
Broken Wings, By Jia Pingwa, ACA Publishing
2018 publications:
The Chilli Bean Paste Clan, by Yan Ge, Balestier Press (awarded a PEN Translates grant)
Our Story: A Memoir of Love and Life in China, by Rao Pingru, Knopf Doubleday (awarded a PEN Translates grant)
2017 publications:
Jia Pingwa, Happy Dreams, Amazon Crossing, 2017.
Fish Tank Creatures, by Dorothy Tse, short story, translated with Natascha Bruce
2016 publications:
Crystal Wedding, novel by Xu Xiaobin, Balestier Press, 2016 (awarded a PEN Translates grant)
2015 publications:
Paper Tiger, essays by Xu Zhiyuan, co-translated with Michelle Deeter, Head of Zeus, 2015 (awarded a PEN Translates grant).
Sissy Zhong by Yan Ge, published READ PAPER REPUBLIC.
January:Bridges, by Dorothy Tse, published READ PAPER REPUBLIC. The translation and editing of this story is discussed and illustrated here: Free Word Centre.
Also, 2015-2016, READ PAPER REPUBLIC short story series: launching, planning, translating, editing, promotion and publicity.
2014 publications:
The Book of Sins by Chen Xiwo published by FortySix, October 2014.
White Horse, novella by Yan Ge, Hope Road Publishing, October 2014.
A Tabby-cat's Tale by Han Dong, winter 2014.
The Unbearable Dreamworld of Champa the Driver by Chan Koon-chung, Doubleday, April 2014.
Snow and Shadow, short story collection by Dorothy Tse, East Slope Publishing, March 2014.
A New Development Model and China’s Future, by Deng Yingtao, Routledge, March, 2014.
The Stone Ox that Grazed, short story by Sun Yisheng in Asymptote, April 2014.
A Loud Noise, poems by Han Dong, March 2014.
Other Published Translations in date order:
Urban Control and the Modernist City - essay by Leung Man-Tao, in LA Review of Books, originally appeared in Paper Republic, August 2013.
Woman Fish, by Dorothy Tse, for the Guardian newspaper, March 2013
The Shades who Periscope through Flowers to the Sky, by Sun Yisheng, for Words Without Borders, December 2012, and Dad, Your Name is Bao Tian, by Sun Yisheng, for The World of Chinese, March 2013.
Old Man Xinjiang, by Xue Mo, in China Stories for the Guardian newspaper, April 2012.
The Man with the Knife by Chen Xiwo, for Words Without Borders, November 2012
'Goodbye to Anne', in the novella collection The Road of Others, by Anni Baobei, Makedo Publishing, 2012.
Throwing out the Baby, by Xu Zechen, in Words Without Border, April 2012.
Shi Cheng: Short Stories from Urban China, Comma Press "Tales from Ten Cities" series, the two by Han Dong and Ding Liying, 2012
Flowers of Nanjing by Yan Geling, , published by Chatto and Windus, January 2012
A Phone Call from Dalian: Selected Poems by Han Dong, published by Zephyr Press, April 2012. Multiple reviews including World Literature Today and Peony Moon
The Eye of the Eagle, short story by Bai Hua, published by Hope Road Publishing
Prize-winning novel Gold Mountain Blues/Jin Shan by Zhang Ling, published by Penguin Canada
Short stories for Ou Ning's Shenzhen & Hong Kong Bi-city Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture, 2009, and literary magazine Chutzpah, 2010 and 2011.
Message from Unknown Chinese Mothers (Author: Xinran), Chatto & Windus, 2010.
China Witness (author: Xinran), oral history Co-translator with Esther Tyldesley and Julia Lovell. Chatto & Windus , 2008.
Banished! (author: Han Dong) (《扎根》 韩东), novel. University of Hawai’i Press, 2009. Won a PEN Translation Fund Award (2006) for this work. Longlisted for Man Asian Literary Prize, 2008.
‘Long Corridor, Short Song’ (author: Zi Ren, in To Pierce the Material Screen: An Anthology of 20th Century HK Literature, to be pub. Renditions, Hong Kong 2008); (《长廊的短调》 梓人) short story.
China Along the Yellow River (author: Prof. Cao Jinqing, pub. Routledge Curzon, December 2004); (《黄河边的中国》 曹锦清) sociology of rural China.
K – The Art of Love (author: Hong Ying, pub. Marion Boyars, 2002); (《K》 虹影) novel.
Research publications:
Li Hao: Translation of Contemporary Chinese Literature in the English-speaking World: An Interview with Nicky Harman, The AALITRA Review, No 4 (2012)
What's that got to do with anything? Coherence and the translation of relative clauses from Chinese. In Journal of Specialised Translation (www.jostrans.org) issue 13, January 2010
Foreign Culture, Foreign Style: a Translator’s View of Modern Chinese Fiction. In Perspectives: Studies in Translatology 14(1): 13-31. (2006).
Beyond Paper Dictionaries: Mining the Web for Technical Terminology in Chinese (available from http://isg.urv.es/cttt/cttt/research.html, or on request from NH).
Visiting Fellow at the Research Centre for Translation at Chinese University Hong Kong, April 2006. Visiting Scholar, Fudan University and Beijing University, China, 2008.
Nicky Harman translated for READ PAPER REPUBLIC, week 3, 2 July 2015, and READ PAPER REPUBLIC, week 10, 20 August 2015.
| One Night on the Wharf | by Han Dong | February 01, 2022 |
| View from a Window | by Han Dong | April 16, 2020 |
| Hide! Hide! Hide! | by Yan Geling | March 28, 2020 |
| Letter to My Mother | by Ou Ning | October 04, 2018 |
| Dad Your Name is Field-Keeper | by Sun Yisheng | February 04, 2017 |
| Gu Jieming – a Life | by Han Dong | June 09, 2016 |
| The Bathtub – Scene of a Struggle | by Han Dong | May 12, 2016 |
| Snow | by Xu Xiaobin tr. Natascha Bruce and Nicky Harman | March 24, 2016 |
| That Damned Thing She Said | by Fu Yuli | March 03, 2016 |
| Backflow River | by Jia Pingwa | February 25, 2016 |
| Apery | by Sun Yisheng | January 28, 2016 |
| The Cry of the Deer | by Han Dong | January 21, 2016 |
| Sissy Zhong | by Yan Ge | August 20, 2015 |
| January: Bridges | by Dorothy (Hiu Hung) Tse | July 02, 2015 |
| The Cry of the Deer | by Han Dong | Pathlight: New Chinese Writing |
| Mother Earth (excerpt) | by Chiu Zu-Yin | Books from Taiwan |
| Free! | by Wang Bang | Words Without Borders |
| Old Man Xinjiang | by Xue Mo | The Guardian |
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 Nicky Harman, January 18, '12
Danny Hahn from the UK Translators Association would like to organise an informal get-together for practising Chinese-to-English translators in or around the bookfair. Please contact him direct: d.hahn@uea.ac.uk.
By Nicky Harman, January 18, '12
Following the great success of last year’s Summer School, we are delighted to announce the expanded Summer School 2012. This five-day event will take place at Birkbeck University of London (43 Gordon Square WC1H 0PD) on 9-13 July 2012. It comprises courses in translation into English from Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish – each language subject to a minimum group-size of five students – and an editing skills course for all. There will also be games, a competition, meet-the-publishers, and guest lectures and workshops.
By Nicky Harman, January 16, '12
At the Free Word Translator Residency we ran a BookclubFest where I was approached by Steve Wasserman of the Short Story Bookclub asking for a Han Dong story. The long and the short of it is that I provided The Deer Park and he recorded it. I was over the moon when I listened, and I love the picture he provided too. The story seems to acquire a whole new life of its own as it’s being read alive. This particular website provides all sorts of podcast stories for free (NB he doesn’t pay the writer/translator). There’s at least one other UK–based site I know of that does something similar. I very much like the idea, as a great alternative to printed short story collections.
By Nicky Harman, October 15, '11
The New International? Literature in an age of ‘globish’, talk on Thursday 20 October 2011, 7.00pm until 9.00pm, Free Word Centre, 60 Farringdon Road, London EC1R 3GA. For details see here. Not strictly Chinese-focussed and nothing to do with me, but I promised I'd pass the news on. It sounds very interesting.
By Nicky Harman, October 14, '11
So I’ve had to dream up a series of Free Word Centre talks for a non-specialist, non-translator audience, which are China/translation-focussed. Why not ask myself? It seemed like a great idea at first. I could hardly refuse…. So I did: “Nicky, will you give a talk on ‘3,000 years of Chinese translation’? “Yes Nicky, I will, no problem.”
By Nicky Harman, September 9, '11
Book Club Fest
Love reading? Enjoy talking about books with other people? Interested in other countries? Come and join us for an evening of reading foreign stories in translation from countries including China, Mexico and Sweden. VENUE: Free Word Centre, Wednesday 21 September 2011 6.30 – 8.30pm. How it works: Register online and we’ll email you all the texts as PDFs. Read the stories, then when you arrive at Free Word on the night you’ll receive a printout of them all, plus a free glass of wine. There’s 1 room, lots of book clubs, lots of short stories, and lots of book-lovers. Join a group, take part in the discussion, move around when the bell rings, then all come together at the end and share your thoughts!
Free, but registration essential
By Nicky Harman, August 30, '11
At the London FREE WORD CENTRE.
I will be one of the London Free Word Centre’s Translators-in-Residence this autumn and have organised a series of events for adults and chidren loosely focussed on China/Chinese and translation. You don’t have to be a translator or to speak Chinese to join in and all are welcome.
By Nicky Harman, July 25, '11
Chinese Fables
Bi Feiyu and Chan Koonchung
23rd August at 6:30pm
Free Word Centre, 60 Farringdon Road, London EC1R 3GA
We’re delighted to bring two of China’s most respected and controversial authors together in this unique event at the Free Word Centre. Bi Feiyu won this year’s Man Asian Literary Prize for his masterful novel Three Sisters. The author was due to visit the UK last year to promote his book – an epic portrayal of contemporary Chinese culture – but was caught in visa bureaucracy. Chan Koonchung’s political fable The Fat Years, banned in China, will be available in English in July 2011.
Join these two fascinating writers as they discuss fables, families – and fat years – with critic Lucy Popescu (author of The Good Tourist). In association with Telegram Books and Transworld Publishers.
Booking details: www.freewordonline.com or call 0207 3242 570
Tickets: £5 (£3 PEN members/concessions)
By Nicky Harman, May 9, '11
The Guardian Online Arts section runs a World literature tour on the site, and it's heading to China ... go online and add your ideas...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2011/may/09/world-literature-tour-china/
By Nicky Harman, February 25, '11
By Yu Yan Chen
China Fiction Book Club is a gathering of kindred spirits bonded together by the love for Chinese language and literature. Over tea and snacks, members meet about once every two months to translate a piece of contemporary Chinese literature into English. Our first meeting in autumn 2010 took place at an elegant café near SOAS, but our next meeting on 16 March from 6:00 to 8:00 will be held at RADA.
By Nicky Harman, February 1, '11
Fish out of water? Lone voice crying in the wilderness? (well, alright, in the Quality Non–Fiction in the Digital Age conference). At the start, I was a little unsure about what role I, as the sole translator–speaker, was going to play at a conference largely attended by international publishers. Though I wasn’t the only one of a kind. There was a philosopher, Jos de Mul, reminding us that the invention of writing in the New Stone Age was just a way of outsourcing memory! And computers in the New New Stone Age (that’s now) are a way of outsourcing thinking…
By Nicky Harman, January 4, '11
Shi Tiesheng dies of a brain hemorrage at 59. Wikipedia entry here
By Nicky Harman, October 28, '10
Manchester (UK) Literary Festival 2010 invited Shanghai short story writer and poet Ding Liying to their Translation Evening last week.
By Nicky Harman, October 4, '10
Jonathan Franzen's book Freedom suffers UK recall: More than 8,000 copies of the American author's latest opus have been recalled due to hundreds of typesetting errors. This has been headline news in the UK for the past two days. That's unheard-of for any novel except perhaps Harry Potter. Now how about this for a great way to launch one of those translations some of us are busy working on: ooops, it comes out only half-translated, or with an eye-catching English cover and all in Chinese inside?! OK, I was just joking. But then again........
By Nicky Harman, September 28, '10
New Statesman, the British socialist weekly magazine, includes Han Han, writer, racing–driver and blogger, at number 48 in its list this week of 50 People who matter 2010. The rest are an eclectic group of the world’s great, the good and the not so good…About a quarter of them are women, only one of whom, Angela Merkel, is in the top ten. There’s one other Chinese, Xi Jinping, at number 4 (up from 10 last year).
