October 2022: Anna Wu 吴霜
Anna Wu (Wu Shuang) is a Chinese science fiction writer, film and TV play writer. Her film script, Cloud and Mist, won the Gold Medal of Originality for the Best Science Fiction Film of the Sixth Nebula Award for Global Chinese Science Fiction. Her works have been published in magazines, such as Galaxy's Edge and Science Fiction World. As translator, Anna's work includes stories for the science fiction collection, The Shape of Thought, by Ken Liu. Her own science fiction novella collection, Twins was published in June of 2017.
Bio from Clarkesworld
This month we're delighted to feature a story by Anna Wu, 'The Facecrafter' 捏脸师, translated by Emily X. Jin and first published in Clarkesworld in 2018, in partnership with Storycom. You can read it in Chinese and in Emily's English translation.
'Nuclear Winter had come for the humans ever since the end of the Great War. Lethal radiation dust snowed over every inch of land, leaving almost no bare ground. Humans were forced to migrate to the underground shelters built beneath the cities, where their habitable area was reduced to the minimum. Every shelter was divided into zones labeled as “agriculture,” “pasture,” “industry,” “entertainment” and “storage.” Clothing and food were distributed in uniform.'
We were also very lucky to hear from translator Emily X. Jin when she came to Leeds earlier in October, to talk about her work as a translator, and her academic work as a PhD researcher at Yale University.
Anna also has a story - 'Meisje met de Parel'（戴珍珠耳环的少女) - in the anthology Sinopticon: A Celebration of Chinese Science Fiction, translated and edited by Xueting Christine Ni and published in 2021 by Solaris. This collection has just won the British Fantasy Award for Best Anthology!
In her note to the story, Xueting writes: 'In "Meisje met de Parel", Wu wanted to explore two very different civilisations, human and artificial intelligence, each of which, having their own strengths and shortcomings, are unified by an understanding that the beauty of Art is eternal and should be cherished.'
We're really looking forward to welcoming Xueting to an online event on November 23rd, where she'll be discussing the story, and we'll also be hearing a recording by Anna. (More details on this event coming soon!)
You can also find Anna's story 'The Restaurant at the End of the Universe: Tai-Chi Mashed Taro', translated by Carmen Yiling Yan, in The Way Spring Arrives, a collection of science fiction and fantasy written by female and nonbinary creators, which we featured in our July Bookclub (alongside another story translated by Emily - 'New Year Painting, Ink and Color on Rice Paper, Zhaoqiao Village', by Chen Qian 陈茜).