Which Chinese Books Do You Want Translated?

By Edward Nawotka

Today’s lead article discusses the launch of the Peony Literary Agency in Hong Kong and Beijing. The firm already represents a number of bestselling Chinese writers that have yet to attract a Western publisher, most notably, Han Han (he was deemed the sixth richest writer in China), but has yet to be translated. Another is the novel The Fat Years by John Chan.

The Fat Years

The Web site Paper Republic does a good…no, a great job of trying to interest Western publishers in some of the latest Chinese writers. For the Frankfurt Book Fair they even produced a catalog of sample translations for writers including Han Dong, Sheng Keyi, Jia Pingwa, Liang Wendao, and Li Er.

You can still download the catalog and view the site’s list of recommended untranslated books, as well as five books in need of re-translation. And, if you’re curious, you can read a sample translation (PDF) from Han Han’s bestselling novel Ideal City.

Let us know which Chinese authors or books you’d like to see translated in the comments below or on Twitter using hashtag #ppdiscuss.