August 2026: Yang Hao 杨好

This month we are delighted to feature the author Yang Hao 杨好. Yang Hao was born in Shanxi, grew up in Beijing, and now is based in Dublin.

She has published two novels in Chinese, Novel Noir 《黑色小说》in 2019 and Diablo’s Boys 《男孩们》in 2021, as well as an anthology of essays entitled Into Renaissance, and her latest short story collection, The Long Slumber 《大眠》in 2025. Stories from this collection have appeared in English translation in Two Lines Magazine and Copper Nickel. Her debut novel Novel Noir was shortlisted for the Blancpain–Imaginist Literary Award in 2019, and Diablo’s Boys (translated by Nicky Harman and Michael Day) is her first novel translated into English. Published by Balestier Press in 2025, Diablo's Boys was nominated for the Dublin Literary Award the following year. Noted by The Irish Times as “an exciting new voice,” she writes with a background in literature, film, and art history, shaped by many years of living abroad. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Comparative Literature at Trinity College Dublin. (Author bio (including links) adapted from Paper Republic).

You can read a recent feature article about Yang Hao in the China Daily and another in the Irish Times.

This month we are grateful to Yang Hao and translator Michael Day for allowing us to share one of her short stories, "Ritual", which was first published in English translation in Copper Nickel in 2025. Click here to read it in Chinese and in English. We are also very proud that Mike was the joint winner (with Natascha Bruce) of our inaugural Bai Meigui translation competition, back in 2015! Another of Yang Hao's stories, "World Map", also translated by Mike, was featured in 2023 in Two Lines magazine where you can also read both the original Chinese and the English versions.

Nicky and Mike are currently working together again on a full translation of The Long Slumber and we are hoping to have news of a publisher soon.