Popular Chinese novel expects English version

Popular Chinese novel expects English version

The English version of the best-selling Chinese novel “Wolf Totem” will be published worldwide next March, according to a statement released by Penguin Group.
“Wolf Totem”, written by Jiang Rong, depicts nomadic life in the Inner Mongolian grasslands in the 1960s and 1970s and has sold more than two million copies in China.
Penguin plans to launch the book during “China Now”, the biggest ever celebration of contemporary Chinese culture in the United Kingdom, which will be held during the first six months of 2008.
Two years ago, Penguin prepaid 100,000 dollars, 10 percent of the total purchase value, to buy the English copyright of the novel which, at the time, was China’s most expensive overseas book deal and Howard Glodblatt began work on the translation.
“Wolf Totem is a special book for Penguin Group, as its acquisition in 2005 marked the start of our work in China. In the two years since then, Howard Goldblatt has been hard at work on the eagerly awaited English edition,” said Peter Field, CEO of Penguin Group.
The English edition of Wolf Totem has already been nominated for the MAN Asian Literary Prize, a prestigious award that recognizes excellence in literature from Asia in English.
The book is set to be translated into 16 languages. More than 40,000 copies of the Italian edition were sold upon its publication earlier this year.
Field added that he hoped the English version of Wolf Totem would sell two million copies.
Penguin formally opened its China office in August 2005. Since then, it has accumulated a list of 18 books by Chinese authors, or on subjects related to China, to be published around the world.