Yiyun Li wins The Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award
Chinese-American author Yiyun Li
has won The Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award for her story A Sheltered Woman. She is the first
woman to win the Award since its inception in 2010. A Sheltered Woman is the story of a Chinese-American nanny
hired to spend a month supporting a new mother and her baby; trying to keep
detached from the emotional turmoil around her, she is also entrapped by her
own past. A story of an outsider and the falseness of self-imposed
isolation, it was first published in The
New Yorker in March 2014.
World Readers’ Award
A new literary prize, backed by the Asia-Pacific Writers and Translators’ Association, has been launched in Hong Kong. The World Readers’ Award will recognise that text is changing. Stories around the world already appear in many non-print formats. China’s 2006 bestselling narrative was distributed by computer, and Japan’s 2003 bestseller was distributed on telephones - both these stories found success before the Kindle was launched and e-books became familiar. In the light of such developments, the organisers of The World Readers’ Award believe that in the next 10 years the book, globally, will become primarily a digital object, written, stored and distributed electronically. Hence more stories, in more forms and formats, will be eligible for this prize than is the case with traditional literary prizes. It is aimed at finding the finest written narratives, irrespective of format. The author awarded the prize for the best unpublished / undiscovered narrative will be offered help towards signing a rights contract covering publication as a physical book, and as a digital book. He or she will also receive advice about selling various other rights: movie; audiobook; new formats.
A new literary prize, backed by the Asia-Pacific Writers and Translators’ Association, has been launched in Hong Kong. The World Readers’ Award will recognise that text is changing. Stories around the world already appear in many non-print formats. China’s 2006 bestselling narrative was distributed by computer, and Japan’s 2003 bestseller was distributed on telephones - both these stories found success before the Kindle was launched and e-books became familiar. In the light of such developments, the organisers of The World Readers’ Award believe that in the next 10 years the book, globally, will become primarily a digital object, written, stored and distributed electronically. Hence more stories, in more forms and formats, will be eligible for this prize than is the case with traditional literary prizes. It is aimed at finding the finest written narratives, irrespective of format. The author awarded the prize for the best unpublished / undiscovered narrative will be offered help towards signing a rights contract covering publication as a physical book, and as a digital book. He or she will also receive advice about selling various other rights: movie; audiobook; new formats.
Call for submissions / Japan
Writers’ Conference
John Gribble, an organiser of the
Tokyo Writers Workshop and a coordinator of the annual Japan Writers
Conference, sent a note: It may seem
early, but this is to remind everyone of this year's Japan Writers Conference
on October 24 and
25, 2015 at Kobe Women's
University, Suma Campus. The deadline for submitting presentation proposals is
only six weeks away, June 1. Click here for guidelines. For the guidelines click here.
Refugees in novels and plays
Index on Censorship in London last week
hosted a really interesting sounding seminar on the depiction of refugees in
novels and plays. Click here for the YouTube video.
3rd Islamabad Literature Festival
The 3rd Islamabad Literature Festival, bringing
together international and Pakistani writers to showcase writing at its best,
is on now. Check it out on Facebook.