Mo Yan
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Suspense over this year's literature Nobel to end shortly
Literary circles are abuzz with speculation ahead of Thursday's Nobel Prize announcement, with award watchers suggesting this year's honors in literature could go to a controversial writer such as Syrian-born poet Adonis. The academy is known for its cloak-and-dagger methods to prevent any leaks about its choice, resorting to code names for authors and fake book covers when reading in public. The list of nominees is never revealed and the jury's deliberations are kept secret. The suspense will come to an end on Thursday when the winner is announced, ending an unusually long wait. It comes a week later than usual "for calendar reasons", the Academy said in late September. "That leaves a little more time to speculate" about the 2016 laureate, jokes Swedish Academy member Per Wastberg. While perfectly in line with academy statutes according to Wastberg, some Nobel watchers have interpreted the late date as a sign of discord over this year's choice. "If you ask me, it's absolutely not a 'calendar' issue," says Bjorn Wiman, cultural pages editor at Sweden's main daily Dagens Nyheter. "This is a sign there's a disagreement in the process to select a winner." Mattias Berg, cultural reporter at Swedish Radio, suggests the academy's 18 members may have argued over a "politically controversial laureate, such as Adonis", whose most recent publication is a polemic tract on political Islam. "The prize would in such cases be seen as taking a stance," Wiman says. If the academy is indeed looking for a laureate who divides opinion, it may also have set its sights on Indian-born British author Salman Rushdie. In March, the academy denounced the Iranian fatwa on the author of The Satanic Verses, after a 27-year silence it attributed to its neutrality and independence. Literary critic Madelaine Levy at daily Svenska Dagbladet says only one thing was certain: We know that we know nothing about the academy's choice. "Year after year, the writers chosen are incredibly different," she notes. Some of the same names have been making the rounds for several years, including Ngugi wa Thiong'o of Kenya, Don DeLillo and Joyce Carol Oates of the United States and Haruki Murakami of Japan. Wiman meanwhile has his Nobel trifecta for this year: "I think it will be (Norwegian playwright Jon) Fosse. I'm hoping for (Israeli writer David) Grossman. And I would jump for joy for (the novelist using the pseudonym Elena) Ferrante." Amid all the speculation, the academy is remaining tight-lipped. "Some people want to know what's in the Christmas parcel and some people want to be surprised. We want to surprise you," says Swedish Academy director Odd Zschiedrich. Every year, the venerable tradition remains the same. In February, the academy makes a list of all of the nominations submitted before reducing it to a secret short list of five names in May. Throughout the summer, academy members study their works, before reaching a decision in October. Last year, the academy surprised everyone "by not surprising us", Wiman says. Belarusian writer Svetlana Alexievich, who won for her documentary-style narratives based on witness testimonies, was the favorite in both literary circles and on betting sites. This year, most observers say they are expecting a return to fiction. But Murakami, the big favorite among bettors and the public, is not considered a serious contender. Too superficial, is the unanimous verdict among the Stockholm literati. "There's room for a category of authors who haven't yet won", as was the case with the short story genre and Alice Munro, and Alexievich and her documentary style, according to Swedish Radio's Berg. Despite that, and even though novelists are those most frequently honored with a Nobel, he says he would love to see Joyce Carol Oates win. And, note many observers, more women ought to win the award. Since 1901, only 14 women have won, compared to 98 men. Others suggest it's time for an American laureate, the last one dating to 1993 when Toni Morrison was honored. "It's been a long time since an American author won the prize," Levy says. "The great American novel is underrepresented." But the academy insists its members do not consider gender or geography when selecting a laureate. "They're only interested in whether it's a skilled writer," Zschiedrich says.
A cultural bridge between East and West
Event attracts delegations from 85 countries to build a modern path to prosperity, Song Mengxing reports. The Silk Road (Dunhuang) International Cultural Expo works as an important platform for cultural cooperation and communication among countries and regions to promote human progress, participants at the expo said. The first expo, which opened on Sept 20 in Gansu province in Northwest China, attracted 95 delegations from 85 countries and five international organizations. It included a high-level conference, forums, cultural exhibitions and performances to display cultural products and promote cultural cooperation, the event's organizers said. "The expo is an international grand event of Silk Road culture communication as the theme and aims to promote the Silk Road spirit," Wang Sanyun, Party chief of Gansu, said at the opening ceremony. Such spirit comprises peace and cooperation, opening-up and inclusiveness, mutual learning and win-win relations, according to Wang. A cultural bridge between East and West He said the expo would advance integration of cultures and attitudes from regions along the Silk Road and help development in those regions. Minister of Culture Luo Shugang said that the expo would provide new ways for countries along the Silk Road to further their cultural communication and cooperation to generate mutual benefits. The event helps people from different countries and regions to better know each other and offer cultural support to the development of the Silk Road Economic Belt, which is part of the Belt and Road Initiative proposed by President Xi Jinping in 2013, Luo said. He Yiting, executive vicepresident at the Party School of the Central Committee of Communist Party of China, said that the historic Silk Road connected Chinese, Mesopotamia, Mediterranean, Indian and Egyptian cultures and because of the Silk Road and the Maritime Silk Road, different cultures progressed and prospered together. Opening-up, inclusiveness and mutual learning are the impetus for the Chinese people to make progress and also one of the foundations for the progress of human civilization, He said. Chinese author Mo Yan, who won the Nobel Prize in literature in 2012, said at a forum that the essential aim of cultural communication should be innovation, and that just copying something is of no significance. The expo's most important goal is to create cultural forms and artworks based on sufficient communication and discussion, Mo said. He said he hopes activities at future expos will be more diversified and reflect the history of the Silk Road as well as past and present Dunhuang cultures. The city of Dunhuang, which was a major stop on the ancient Silk Road and is best known for the Mogao Caves, hosted the expo. This expo's cultural exhibitions showcased some 8,500 exhibits from more than 60 countries, ranging from cultural relics, fine arts and photography, creative designs to intangible heritage. France, the expo's guest of honor, brought to the event nearly 400 artworks, including oil paintings and sketches done by noted artists. More than 1,300 domestic and foreign performers offered diverse performances including dances, acrobatics and concerts. The Ministry of Culture signed cooperation plans with cultural departments from Jordan and Bulgaria. Gansu signed 18 cooperation agreements with government agencies and companies from related countries as well as international organizations. The Dunhuang Declaration was launched at the expo. It plans paths and directions for cultural cooperation among countries and regions along the Silk Road and lays a cultural foundation for development of the Belt and Road Initiative, the event's organizers said. The declaration was one of the most important and influential achievements of the expo, they added. Gansu has geographical, cultural and policy advantages for hosting the expo, local officials said. The province in the hinterland of northwestern China borders regions such as Shaanxi, Sichuan and Qinghai provinces and the Ningxia Hui autonomous region. It is a comprehensive transportation hub involving railways, highways, air routes and waterways, and connects East Asia to Central and West Asia and Europe. The province was a strategic passageway and trading region along the ancient Silk Road, which extends 1,600 kilometers through the province, the officials said. They said Gansu helped bridge Chinese and Western cultures in ancient times and has played an irreplaceable role in promoting communication between the East and West. The province also has huge potential as the central government has provided supportive policies to Gansu in recent years and agreed on construction of some national-level strategic areas, including the Lanzhou New Area. Implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative offers Gansu, which is located in the golden area of the Silk Road Economic Belt, a great development opportunity and makes it an important opening-up region in the country. The province said it is confident that in five years it can make the expo a world-class and widely influential cultural exposition, which can promote communication and understanding among countries and regions along the Silk Road. The Gansu Provincial Information Office contributed to this story. Contact the writer at songmengxing@chinadaily.com
Read all about it
Penguin Random House is excited to bring foreign titles to China and Chinese literature to international markets, CEO says Markus Dohle knew he had "the best job in the world" when best-selling author Dan Brown knocked on his office door in 2008. This was five years before the merger of giant publishing houses Penguin and Random House, and Dohle was CEO of the latter. Read all about it Markus Dohle is proud of publishing Mo Yan overseas. Photos Provided to China Daily "It was my first day," he recalls during a recent visit to Beijing. "I came into the office at 8 in the morning. One hour later, Brown came in and said he was dropping by and wanted to introduce himself." The two became firm friends that day and still "we catch up as often as possible". Dohle, now CEO of Penguin Random House, says that staying connected with people, products, services and the industry is crucial to any leader. "Staying in touch with authors is especially important." That's why he met with tennis champion Li Na during his China visit. Penguin Random House released the English edition of her autobiography, Li Na: My Life. Dohle says he feels privileged to have met Li, as a tennis fan and as a pro himself in his younger days. "Publishing is a people business," he says. His team upgraded the company's logo and has sustained a record of selling more than 700 million books a year, from printed to audio to e-books. The company has published works by more than 60 Nobel laureates, while its other authors keep winning awards. The group earned $3.76 billion last year and is among the most popular employers in the United States. Dohle sees the merger as a combination of two communities into a family that's successful "on the business side and on the cultural side". The integration "increases our presence in the targeted growth markets of China, Brazil and India". The secret to managing such a large community, he says, is "to run a large place like a small place, in that you can remain nimble and flexible". He has organized the group, which operates in 25 countries and regions, in a decentralized way. That's because he believes publishing is a business about language and rights that supports local cultures, voices and talent. He says Penguin Random House has continued to learn about the Chinese market and anticipates big opportunities as more Chinese read English-language titles. It plans to bring global best-sellers to China, while taking more Chinese titles international. Dohle is proud of publishing Chinese Nobel laureate Mo Yan overseas, and says the group is planning more Chinese-language titles, especially given the rise in demand for children's literature. "Publishing is less a global business and more a decentralized, creative and multilocal one," he says. "You can only do it bottom-up. You can't do it top-down. That's how we approach our international businesses and approach China, too, with our local publishing here." He insists print will survive, despite the rise of digital platforms since 2009, when paper books began to decline. "My basic strategic assumption is that print will always be important. Always, not for 50 years or 100 years, but always. And digital is becoming more and more important. There will be a healthy coexistence between the two." He has been proved correct, too. Last year, printing increased by more than 6 percent in Britain and about 3 percent in the US. Dohle was born in Arnsberg, Germany, in 1968 and trained in industrial engineering and management at the University of Karlsruhe. He says every day is different for him. He's still deeply inspired and excited by the opportunity to publish great stories after 22 years in the sector. The CEO leads such campaigns as "Give a Book" and the Readathon, and supports libraries. "We see ourselves as a creative force and as a cultural institution, not as a corporation. Our larger purpose is to create the future of books and love for reading in our society for generations to come," he says. "We know that if we actually achieve that large purpose, then, as a byproduct and a logical consequence, we're also going to be financially successful." meijia@chinadaily.com.cn
Knowledge Graph
Examples
1 But he does feel almost left alone; only the author Mo Yan has a serious body of work published in the West.
2 Most think it does, though they admit that literary giants such as Mo Yan and Jia Pingwa manage to write splendid, influential books which are also best-sellers.
3 Chinese literature, penned by famous authors such as Wang Meng, Tie Ning and Mo Yan, has reached out to many countries around the world through translations and careful marketing.