Chen Xiwo teaches comparative literature at Fuzhou Normal University and has published seven major novels. Due to his refusal to compromise about the style or content of his writing, it was nearly twenty years before his books could be published in China. In 2010, Asia Sentinel described Chen Xiwo as "one of China’s most outspoken voices on freedom of expression for writers" and published his speech given at the Foreign Correspondents Club in Hong Kong on September 27, 2010. One recurring theme in Chen’s fiction is the relationship between sexual and social corruption. Perhaps his most famous work, the novella I Love My Mum (遮蔽) explores incest and S&M as metaphors for a dysfunctional society. His works have been nominated for several prizes, and in 2001 he won the Chinese Literature Media Prize for Dissipation (我们的苟且). Today Chen Xiwo is one of contemporary China’s most acclaimed authors. In 2010, an English translation of I Love My Mum was released by Make-Do Publishing. His novel Irritation (抓痒) was published in a French translation by Editions Reflets de Chine (2009).
» More about Chen Xiwo
Nicky Harman lives in the UK and translates full-time from Chinese, focussing on fiction, literary nonfiction, and occasionally poetry. When not translating, she works on Paper-Republic.org, a nonprofit website promoting Chinese literature in translation, where she is also a trustee. She organizes translation-focused events, mentors new translators, gives regular talks and workshops on translation, and judges translation competitions. She was co-Chair of the Translators Association (Society of Authors, UK) from 2014 to 2017. She blogs on Asian Books Blog, and tweets, with Helen Wang, as China Fiction Book Club @cfbcuk.
» More about Nicky Harman
