Qiu Miaojin is a cult author in Taiwan and not only in the gay communities. Translation, last
year of “Last words from Montmartre” in a prestigious collection (1) will make a name for this talented young woman who committed suicide in Paris in 1995 a few weeks after her 26 birthday.
– A cult status in Taiwan:
The impact of this book can partly be explained by the political developments in the island. … Lire la suite
In the generation of Chinese writers who just turned thirty, the name of Yan Ge is often mentioned first. She talks about her childhood, the families that surround her home, her Sichuan province; history, politics are far less important than humor!
Yan Ge was born in Chengdu in Sichuan, a province that plays an important role in her work. She began publishing at the age of ten, won her first literary prize at 17 and … Lire la suite
Yiyun Li à Paris
photo B. Mialaret
Yiyun Li’s talent is now widely recognized; in a few years, she became a prominent author. Her latest novel, “Kinder than solitude” (ed. Belfond, September 2015), divided between China and the United States, shows the difficulties of a group of friends to live with their past.
We were able to meet her during her visit to Paris, where she participated in the World Writers Festival; she presents, after … Lire la suite
In his latest book, the Chinese writer Yan Lianke chronicled Zhalie, a village of a few homes totally transformed by a couple passionate for power. Fantastic and realistic at the same time.
Yan Lianke is with the Nobel Prize for Literature Mo Yan and Yu Hua, one of the most important contemporary Chinese writers.
Seven of his books have already been translated into French; we remember beautiful novels such as “Lenin’s Kisses” or “The Four … Lire la suite
The Chinese-American novelist Ha Jin is in my opinion a major writer. We have already mentioned “Waiting”, “War Trash”, “A free life” … His latest novel “A map of betrayal”, not yet translated into French, is of comparable quality. Ha Jin tells us the life of the most important Chinese spy in the United States; it is not an espionage novel but rather the story of a spy trapped between two countries, two lives, two … Lire la suite
Murong Xuecun is 40 years old, he is one of the best known young Chinese writers; who, like Han Han and Annie Baobei, became famous with creative writing online.
1- “I am a criminal of words”.
Two novels (translated into French by Claude Payen), had tremendous success in China: “Leave me alone, a novel of Chengdu” in 2006 and “Dancing in the red dust” in 2013. “Chengdu” is available in … Lire la suite
A Yi is less than forty years, he has spent eight years under the uniform of the police but now as a novelist he participates in many festivals outside China and his first novel, “A perfect crime”, translated by Anna Holmwood, has just been published. A French translation will be available in September 2016 with Editions Stock.
Eight years in uniform:
Born in Ruichang, a small village in Jiangxi, he could go to university, but … Lire la suite
A new collection of Chinese literature, Ming Books, published by a joint venture between Hachette and the Chinese Phoenix Publishing Group, allows us to discover three “long” short stories,”Madam Liu,” “Madam Yang” and “Madam Zou”, the lives of inmates whose existence was shared by the author, Zhang Yihe, during her ten years of confinement in a farm in Sichuan province.
– Is a “rightist” a citizen?
She was born in 1942 in Chongqing, where her … Lire la suite
“The Last Wolf”, a film by Jean-Jacques Annaud, just released in France and China after a clever promotional campaign to mark the Chinese New Year. The year of the goat / sheep could not be more appropriate for a movie about wolves.
A major work of the French director, the film only partially reflects the spirit of the book that inspired it, “Wolf Totem” by Jiang Rong, the biggest bestseller in China after the “Little … Lire la suite
Xu Zechen is not yet forty years old and is considered one of the most promising writers of his generation. One of his novels “Running through Beijing” (1), has been translated into English and will be published in French in 2016. A rather pleasant book that is easy to read and where we meet in neighborhoods north of Beijing various petty traffickers rather..happy!
1 – Dunhuang, with such a name, he can only … Lire la suite
Zhu Tianwen is one of the most famous Taiwanese writers, she has just been awarded the Newman prize, a biennial prize by the University of Oklahoma. She is the first female recipient and was in good company with finalists such as Yu Hua, Yan Lianke, Ge Fei. She succeeds Mo Yan and Han Shaogong who were awarded the prize in 2009 and 2011 as well as theTaiwanese poet Yang Mu.
An award for her work … Lire la suite
A symposium last October at INALCO on military compounds in Taiwan, led me to read / re-read the texts by Zhu Tianxin and her older sister Zhu Tianwen. Isabelle Rabut and Angel Pino, professors one at INALCO, the other at the Bordeaux university, run at Actes Sud a serie of modernTaiwanese novels and play an essential role in promoting this literature. These two days, during which were also presented two films, could be supplemented by … Lire la suite
The Chinese writer Yu Hua, well known abroad with international hits such as “To Live” or “Brothers” is back in Paris for the launch of his latest novel “The Seventh Day”.
Seven years have passed since the release in China of “Brothers”, a period during which Yu Hua mostly wrote articles and essays including a remarkable collection that we mentioned in 2010, “China in Ten Words”.
He kindly answered once more our questions with the … Lire la suite