November 2024: Fan Wu 吴帆
Fan Wu is a bilingual writer, with her work published in more than ten languages. Born and raised in China, she travelled to the US for graduate studies and later worked in Silicon Valley's high-tech sector. She holds an MA from Stanford University and now lives in California. She is the author of three novels and her short fiction has appeared in numerous leading publications, such as Granta and Ploughshares, and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. She is also a co-founder of the Society of Heart’s Delight, which promotes interracial and intercultural dialogue, as well as a trustee and leader of Mothers’ Bridge of Love. She is the creator of the “Chinese Immigrants in Silicon Valley and Beyond” photoblog. Her novel Souls Left Behind was translated by Honey Watson and published by Sinoist Books in 2024.
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We were delighted that Fan Wu could join us on November 11th for a special online event, co-organised with Sinoist Books, discussing her book and remembering the Chinese Labour Corps and their contributions to UK and US war efforts. We were also joined by archivist John de Lucy, to talk about his extensive family photo archive, which provides a fascinating insight into the Labour Corps and their lives. The talk can be viewed here.
During the First World War, some 140,000 mean were recruited from China by allied forces to perform support work and manual labour on the front lines. Often overlooked in history, their stories have gone largely underrepresented in historical fiction, something with Fan Wu strives to change. In this emotional novel, themes of war memory, searching for identity and profound loss are explored through the character of David, a former member of the Chinese Labour Corps who has settled in France. With insight into the regrets of David's younger years, his experiences in France, and his elderly life as a widower supported by his daughter, the scope of the novel is a powerful exploration of personal and collective struggles, spanning continents and generations.
You can find out more about the novel from Sinoist Books. And there's an interesting review here from the Asian Review of Books.
And this month we feature an extract from the novel, which can be read in both the original Chinese, and in Honey Watson's English translation.
The book was also featured on the Sinoist Book Club, so you can find some book club questions and topics for discussions here, as well as a video of Fan Wu discussing the book.