ARTS / BOOKS
Six years of Penguin Books in China
Jo Lusby believe the future of books in China is rosy. Photo: Wang Zi/ GT
Fans of Peter Rabbit from China shared their dearest memories and fondness for the age-old tales of Victorian children’s author Beatrix Potter last Wednesday, at the cozy Yin Yang Community Center on the outskirts of Beijing.
It was one of many events by Penguin, an English publishing brand who have had a presence in China for over half a decade.
Communication a key
From book launches and reader events to online discussion boards, the firm has been encouraging Chinese readers to rediscover their passion for the printed word.
Around 5,000 online fans, who call themselves the “Penguin Feathers” can be found on Douban, a popular site for literate Chinese youth, where they enjoy their shared interest in books and literature – despite the company’s original assumption that the main market for English books would be foreigners.
Gabrielle Coyne, CEO of Penguin Asian Pacific, said one of the reasons they set up Penguin China six years ago was to make smarter decisions about which books to sell in what markets.
“Importing book into China is about [picking] the right book for the market and we certainly see terrific growth in China, with year-on-year sales doubling on average,” she said.
Having 5,000 Feathers in their Douban cap, as well as a Weibo account, helps Coyne and Penguin talk to their readers and find out what they like, what they do – and how much they are prepared to pay.
As the only foreign trade publisher with a dedicated Chinese consumer website, Jo Lusby, general manager of Penguin China, said it was a powerful tool for recommending books based on careful reader observations; for example, most want to improve English skills for their careers, so Penguin suggest business books and non-fiction.
“In the beginning, we assumed that 20 percent of our books are read by foreigners and 80 percent by Chinese and now half the readers are Chinese,” said Lusby, who expects that readership to continue to grow.
Gabrielle Coyne believe the future of books in China is rosy. Photo: Wang Zi/ GT
New trends
Ongoing Chinese publishing programs include Penguin Classics, in partnership with Shanghai 99 Readers, the 20 books from Great Ideas series, 23 Peter Rabbit books and popular modern kids character Peppa Pig, as well as bilingual editions for parents to read to preschool children.
Foreign consultants’ seminar China Book International was held ahead of the Beijing International Book Fair, and included Coyne, appointed as one of 17 “foreign experts” due to Penguin’s efforts promoting Chinese literature to the West; the firm has acquired more than 30 contemporary and classic titles for international publication including works by Hong Ying, Zhu Wen, Wang Gang and Lu Xun and 2008’s Wolf Totem by former Red Guard Jiang Rong.
Following the relative success of the latter, which sold more copies to date than any other work of Chinese fiction in English but also attracted criticism for both its writing and viewpoint, other new authors introduced this year include Sheng Keyi, Wang Xiaofang and He Jiahong.
Female writer Sheng Keyi, wrote Northern Girls in 2004, a mix of memoir and fiction telling the story of a female migrant worker who moves from rural Hunan to the bustling boomtown of Shenzhen. It will be published in English in February 2012.
“We like her for her talent and beautiful writing. She deserves more of a readership,” said Lusby. “Despite the different background and geography, with the personal experience of a young women’s growth, challenges and threats, the novel can communicate with the West, as [its voice] is familiar and well-established in Western literature.”
Controversial fiction
As opposed to Cultural Revolution tales, or the druggy party life of people born during the 1980s, depicted in banned novels like Shanghai Baby and Beijing Doll, Northern Girls fills a generational gap – those born in the 1970s – Western readers haven’t been given the opportunity to really think about, she said.
A translation is underway by Shelly Bryant, an American writer whose emotional connection and writing style is similar to Sheng’s. “Finding a quality translator is key to us, and it’s among a very limited group,” said Lusby.
This also proved key for the much-vaunted Wolf Totem: having paid $100,000 for worldwide English rights, Penguin recruited the highly respected Howard Goldblatt to translate. “[It] couldn’t succeed without a quality translation,” Lusby said. But also “the book has to stand, despite all the noise around it.”
Described by Coyne as “a story of the [Inner] Mongolian grassland of the 1960s-70s that has universal themes that can be understood around the world” Wolf Totem won the inaugural Man Asian Literary Prize but also strongly divided critics, with the UK’s Literary Review calling it “the best Chinese book… for many years” and the Australian Literary Review regarding it as “bloated with banality, repetition and cliché,” and some Sinologists labeled it anti-Chinese “crypto-fascism in chic clothing.”
But, as Lusby says, “any successful publishing is always a mixture of many factors... having Goldblatt as translator is a wonderful gift to us and winning the Man Asia Prize... a huge help. Also the timing was very helpful, as Penguin entered the market a little earlier than other foreign publishers.”
In fact, it was the very first to establish a mainland office – a prescient move that will likely continue to serve Penguin well in the next six years.
Fans of Peter Rabbit from China shared their dearest memories and fondness for the age-old tales of Victorian children’s author Beatrix Potter last Wednesday, at the cozy Yin Yang Community Center on the outskirts of Beijing.
It was one of many events by Penguin, an English publishing brand who have had a presence in China for over half a decade.
Communication a key
From book launches and reader events to online discussion boards, the firm has been encouraging Chinese readers to rediscover their passion for the printed word.
Around 5,000 online fans, who call themselves the “Penguin Feathers” can be found on Douban, a popular site for literate Chinese youth, where they enjoy their shared interest in books and literature – despite the company’s original assumption that the main market for English books would be foreigners.
Gabrielle Coyne, CEO of Penguin Asian Pacific, said one of the reasons they set up Penguin China six years ago was to make smarter decisions about which books to sell in what markets.
“Importing book into China is about [picking] the right book for the market and we certainly see terrific growth in China, with year-on-year sales doubling on average,” she said.
Having 5,000 Feathers in their Douban cap, as well as a Weibo account, helps Coyne and Penguin talk to their readers and find out what they like, what they do – and how much they are prepared to pay.
As the only foreign trade publisher with a dedicated Chinese consumer website, Jo Lusby, general manager of Penguin China, said it was a powerful tool for recommending books based on careful reader observations; for example, most want to improve English skills for their careers, so Penguin suggest business books and non-fiction.
“In the beginning, we assumed that 20 percent of our books are read by foreigners and 80 percent by Chinese and now half the readers are Chinese,” said Lusby, who expects that readership to continue to grow.
New trends
Ongoing Chinese publishing programs include Penguin Classics, in partnership with Shanghai 99 Readers, the 20 books from Great Ideas series, 23 Peter Rabbit books and popular modern kids character Peppa Pig, as well as bilingual editions for parents to read to preschool children.
Foreign consultants’ seminar China Book International was held ahead of the Beijing International Book Fair, and included Coyne, appointed as one of 17 “foreign experts” due to Penguin’s efforts promoting Chinese literature to the West; the firm has acquired more than 30 contemporary and classic titles for international publication including works by Hong Ying, Zhu Wen, Wang Gang and Lu Xun and 2008’s Wolf Totem by former Red Guard Jiang Rong.
Following the relative success of the latter, which sold more copies to date than any other work of Chinese fiction in English but also attracted criticism for both its writing and viewpoint, other new authors introduced this year include Sheng Keyi, Wang Xiaofang and He Jiahong.
Female writer Sheng Keyi, wrote Northern Girls in 2004, a mix of memoir and fiction telling the story of a female migrant worker who moves from rural Hunan to the bustling boomtown of Shenzhen. It will be published in English in February 2012.
“We like her for her talent and beautiful writing. She deserves more of a readership,” said Lusby. “Despite the different background and geography, with the personal experience of a young women’s growth, challenges and threats, the novel can communicate with the West, as [its voice] is familiar and well-established in Western literature.”
Controversial fiction
As opposed to Cultural Revolution tales, or the druggy party life of people born during the 1980s, depicted in banned novels like Shanghai Baby and Beijing Doll, Northern Girls fills a generational gap – those born in the 1970s – Western readers haven’t been given the opportunity to really think about, she said.
A translation is underway by Shelly Bryant, an American writer whose emotional connection and writing style is similar to Sheng’s. “Finding a quality translator is key to us, and it’s among a very limited group,” said Lusby.
This also proved key for the much-vaunted Wolf Totem: having paid $100,000 for worldwide English rights, Penguin recruited the highly respected Howard Goldblatt to translate. “[It] couldn’t succeed without a quality translation,” Lusby said. But also “the book has to stand, despite all the noise around it.”
Described by Coyne as “a story of the [Inner] Mongolian grassland of the 1960s-70s that has universal themes that can be understood around the world” Wolf Totem won the inaugural Man Asian Literary Prize but also strongly divided critics, with the UK’s Literary Review calling it “the best Chinese book… for many years” and the Australian Literary Review regarding it as “bloated with banality, repetition and cliché,” and some Sinologists labeled it anti-Chinese “crypto-fascism in chic clothing.”
But, as Lusby says, “any successful publishing is always a mixture of many factors... having Goldblatt as translator is a wonderful gift to us and winning the Man Asia Prize... a huge help. Also the timing was very helpful, as Penguin entered the market a little earlier than other foreign publishers.”
In fact, it was the very first to establish a mainland office – a prescient move that will likely continue to serve Penguin well in the next six years.
