https://www.scmp.com/rss/500076/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3282990/han-kang-wins-nobel-prize-literature?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3282990/han-kang-wins-nobel-prize-literature?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 18 Oct 2024 10:00:00 +0000 Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au, pub. Giramondo Publishing Cold Enough for Snow, Melbourne-based Jessica Au’s delicate and subtle second novel – or, at 97 pages, perhaps it is a novella – is not big on plot. True, it tells the straightforward story of its unnamed, expatriated Hong Kong narrator travelling in Japan with her mother, who still lives in Hong Kong. They haven’t seen each other for some years, meet at Tokyo airport, visit art galleries and museums, wander through gardens and... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/books/article/3168434/cold-enough-snow-prize-winning-existential-novel?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/books/article/3168434/cold-enough-snow-prize-winning-existential-novel?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 25 Feb 2022 11:18:59 +0000 There is a scene in Shakespeare-inspired drama production #1314 in which a man sings gently about his love for a woman while standing directly on her supine body. It is one of many moments in the stage adaptation of the Bard’s sonnets that speak of the inevitable coexistence of beauty and ugliness in love and in life. This work for Théâtre de la Feuille by its founder and artistic director, Ata Wong Chun-tat, was premiered in the Chinese capital, Beijing, five years ago, but the physical theatre... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3159527/shakespeare-sonnets-adapted-stage-collaboration-where-actors?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3159527/shakespeare-sonnets-adapted-stage-collaboration-where-actors?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 15 Dec 2021 04:45:21 +0000 Anne Rice, the gothic novelist best known for writing “Interview with the Vampire,” died on Saturday aged 80, her family said. “In her final hours, I sat beside her hospital bed in awe of her accomplishments and her courage,” her son Christopher Rice said in a post on her Facebook page. He said she died of complications from a stroke. “Interview with the Vampire,” published in 1976, was made into a film starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt in 1994. Rice wrote more than 30 books, many of them in the... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3159431/anne-rice-gothic-novelist-who-wrote-interview?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3159431/anne-rice-gothic-novelist-who-wrote-interview?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 12 Dec 2021 14:21:07 +0000 Author Alice Sebold publicly apologised Tuesday to the man who was exonerated last week in the 1981 rape that was the basis for her memoir Lucky and said she was struggling with the role she played “within a system that sent an innocent man to jail”. Anthony Broadwater, 61, was convicted in 1982 of raping Sebold when she was a student at Syracuse University. He served 16 years in prison. His conviction was overturned November 22 after prosecutors re-examined the case and determined there were... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3157961/lovely-bones-author-alice-sebold-apologises-man?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3157961/lovely-bones-author-alice-sebold-apologises-man?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 01 Dec 2021 01:33:33 +0000 China Literature, a subsidiary of tech giant Tencent Holdings, has been churning out profits from one of Chinese netizens’ favourite pastimes: reading serialised novels. Now it is trying to export that proven business model to the rest of the world, with plans to double the number of its North American writers in 2021, the company’s head of international business Sandra Chen told the South China Morning Post. “We aim to grow the number of North American writers to 100,000 this year,” said Chen,... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3127790/tencents-china-literature-wants-woo-100000-american-and-canadian?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3127790/tencents-china-literature-wants-woo-100000-american-and-canadian?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 31 Mar 2021 11:00:13 +0000 Literature has long inspired other art forms. Nineteenth-century painter Sir John Everett Millais famously depicted, on canvas, the tragic death of Shakespearean character Ophelia, in Hamlet, in his eponymous painting. Many of the longest running Broadway shows such as The Phantom of the Opera, Wicked and Les Miserables were all inspired by literary classics. In 2010, a “sculptural” book called Tree of Codes was published, created by bestselling American author Jonathan Safran Foer, who cut up... https://www.scmp.com/native/lifestyle/arts-culture/topics/when-artworks-click/article/3105641/how-artist-has-turned?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/native/lifestyle/arts-culture/topics/when-artworks-click/article/3105641/how-artist-has-turned?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 16 Oct 2020 06:30:13 +0000 This article originally appeared on ABACUS Writers on China’s largest online publishing platforms stopped updating their stories on Tuesday in a protest against Tencent-owned China Literature. Writers referred to the one-day strike as “May-5-No-Updating-Day,” which was organized in opposition to contract clauses that writers claim diminish author rights. The biggest complaint among those shared on social media is that China Literature’s contracts force authors to hand over copyrights to their... https://www.scmp.com/abacus/news-bites/article/3083128/writers-protest-chinas-largest-publishing-company-owned-tencent?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/abacus/news-bites/article/3083128/writers-protest-chinas-largest-publishing-company-owned-tencent?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 06 May 2020 07:42:29 +0000 Writers on China’s largest online publishing platforms stopped updating their stories on Tuesday in a protest against Tencent-owned China Literature. Writers referred to the one-day strike as “May-5-No-Updating-Day,” which was organized in opposition to contract clauses that writers claim diminish author rights. The biggest complaint among those shared on social media is that China Literature’s contracts force authors to hand over copyrights to their work, local media reported. In a statement... https://www.scmp.com/china-tech-city/writers-protest-chinas-largest-publishing-company-owned-tencent/article/3083075?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/china-tech-city/writers-protest-chinas-largest-publishing-company-owned-tencent/article/3083075?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 06 May 2020 07:42:28 +0000 Bookstores in Beijing, struggling to survive amid the coronavirus epidemic, are teaming up with a popular food delivery app to help get books into the hands of readers. The initiative, co-launched by food delivery company Meituan Dianping and the municipal government of Beijing, will feature a first batch of 72 bookstores.   “Due to the epidemic, 80% of physical bookstores are closed,” the publicity department of the Beijing Municipal Committee told local media. “Although many of them try to... https://www.scmp.com/tech/bookstores-hit-hard-coronavirus-can-now-deliver-books-using-food-delivery-app/article/3073924?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/bookstores-hit-hard-coronavirus-can-now-deliver-books-using-food-delivery-app/article/3073924?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 06 Mar 2020 08:17:03 +0000 Archive of Our Own (AO3), one of the world’s biggest fanfiction sites, appeared to be blocked in China on Saturday as regulators further tightened internet controls, with some users furiously blaming fans of a popular actor for the government’s action. “Unfortunately, the Archive of Our Own is currently inaccessible in China,” the Organization for Transformative Works, a US non-profit group that operates AO3, said on its Twitter account. “We've investigated, and it is not due to anything on our... https://www.scmp.com/culture/china-blocked-one-internets-biggest-fanfiction-sites/article/3064760?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/culture/china-blocked-one-internets-biggest-fanfiction-sites/article/3064760?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 03 Mar 2020 10:04:18 +0000 This article originally appeared on ABACUS More young people are reading and publishing web novels, according to a report published by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences that looks at China’s online literature market in 2019. The report was jointly published with China Literature, the country’s leading online publisher owned by Tencent. In 2019, 74% of all authors who joined China Literature were born after 1995, according to the report. So the vast majority of new authors on the platform... https://www.scmp.com/abacus/news-bites/article/3051426/chinas-internet-literature-draws-young-and-overseas-writers?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/abacus/news-bites/article/3051426/chinas-internet-literature-draws-young-and-overseas-writers?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 19 Feb 2020 10:40:21 +0000 More young people are reading and publishing web novels, according to a report published by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences that looks at China’s online literature market in 2019. The report was jointly published with China Literature, the country’s leading online publisher owned by Tencent. In 2019, 74% of all authors who joined China Literature were born after 1995, according to the report. So the vast majority of new authors on the platform last year were under 25 years old. More than... https://www.scmp.com/china-tech-city/chinas-internet-literature-draws-young-and-overseas-writers/article/3051319?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/china-tech-city/chinas-internet-literature-draws-young-and-overseas-writers/article/3051319?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 19 Feb 2020 10:40:20 +0000 In Sonia FL Leung’s autobiographical short story “The Moon in a Dog’s Eye,” a deserted construction site can be a sanctuary, slippers can turn to stardust, and moonlight can be a healer and source of strength in the face of trauma. Leung moved to Hong Kong from mainland China as a teenager and faced discrimination from local kids who instantly saw her as other. In her personal essays and short stories, she recounts her experience as a forever-outsider in her adoptive home with equal parts... https://www.scmp.com/identity/sonia-fl-leung-metoo-hong-kong-protests-china/article/3036658?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/identity/sonia-fl-leung-metoo-hong-kong-protests-china/article/3036658?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 07 Nov 2019 03:22:54 +0000 This article originally appeared on ABACUS China’s cinephiles don’t really care about Star Wars, but Disney is still hard at work trying to change that. Tencent’s China Literature, the country’s biggest online publisher, chose a popular author on the platform to write a new Chinese novel based on the Star Wars franchise. It’s part of a partnership struck between China Literature and Disney, which bought Star Wars owner Lucasfilm in 2012. The companies have yet to reveal any details about the... https://www.scmp.com/abacus/culture/article/3033446/can-star-wars-story-chinese-characteristics-sell-skywalker-saga?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/abacus/culture/article/3033446/can-star-wars-story-chinese-characteristics-sell-skywalker-saga?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 17 Oct 2019 14:03:50 +0000 China’s cinephiles don’t really care about Star Wars, but Disney is still hard at work trying to change that. Tencent’s China Literature, the country’s biggest online publisher, chose a popular author on the platform to write a new Chinese novel based on the Star Wars franchise. It’s part of a partnership struck between China Literature and Disney, which bought Star Wars owner Lucasfilm in 2012. The companies have yet to reveal any details about the book, which they say is still in the “initial... https://www.scmp.com/culture/can-star-wars-story-chinese-characteristics-sell-skywalker-saga-china/article/3033329?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/culture/can-star-wars-story-chinese-characteristics-sell-skywalker-saga-china/article/3033329?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 17 Oct 2019 14:03:49 +0000 It’s hard to categorize Ken Liu’s writing. Anyone who tries to fit the Chinese-American sci-fi writer into boxes will quickly run out of them. His first short-story collection, The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories, features everything from a tale about Chinese-American gold miners to a written documentary exposing the horrors of Unit 731 from World War II to a Calvino-esque catalog of the ways different alien species might write books. Of his short fiction work, Liu is most famous for “The... https://www.scmp.com/culture/ken-liu-silkpunk-chinese-science-fiction/article/3032565?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/culture/ken-liu-silkpunk-chinese-science-fiction/article/3032565?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 11 Oct 2019 10:06:36 +0000 If you start getting into the Chinese classics, you’re going to want to check out the spots they’re set in. Like Harry Potter fans taking selfies at London’s Kings Cross Station, or Game of Thrones fans pretending to be Lannisters in Croatia, four of China’s enduring classics have sent endless tour groups to a few key spots in China. China’s “Four Greats” are: Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin, Journey to the West, and Dream of the Red Chambers. Where to start? Here is a guide to... https://www.scmp.com/travel/guide-visiting-real-life-sites-chinese-classic-literature/article/3000122?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/travel/guide-visiting-real-life-sites-chinese-classic-literature/article/3000122?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 20 Sep 2018 12:11:47 +0000