July 2015: 'Read Paper Republic'
Our book club choice this month is a little different... Rather than focusing on one author, we're going to be highlighting a new project from the Paper Republic team.
Read Paper Republic aims to introduce Chinese writing in translation to a new audience. Or in their own words, it's 'for readers who wonder what new Chinese fiction in English translation has to offer and would like to dip a toe in the water.' So between Thursday 18th June 2015 and 16th June 2016, on the Paper Republic site there will be a complete, free-to-view short story (or essay or poem) by a contemporary Chinese writer every week for the whole year.
We were lucky enough to host the UK launch of the initiative at our Writing Chinese Symposium, where we held a public event on July 4th in association with Paper Republic, the Free Word Centre and the Leeds Writers Circle. At this event, author Dorothy Tse, translator Nicky Harman and Pathlight magazine Dave Haysom discussed Dorothy's story, 'January: Bridges', which was that week's Read Paper Republic story. So this month, we'd like to direct you to the fascinating video of the discussion - 'The Story of a Story' - where you can get a real insight into the often unexpected issues a translator faces. You can also read that story, plus all the others that have appeared so far on the Read Paper Republic website.
And to find out more about Paper Republic, see our interview with founder Eric Abrahamsen.