The ninth talk of the BookBlast® 10×10 tour, a nationwide celebration of independent publishing, @waterstonesl1 College Lane, Liverpool, L1 3DL features Balestier Press, founded in 2014: “Much diversity from Asian translated literature remains to be explored.” Roh-Suan Tung publishes award-winning literature in translation, young-adult fiction, and picture books.
On Thurs. 1 November at 6.30 p.m., Roh-Suan Tung @BalestierPress will chair the discussion with @YanGeMay and @NickyHarman_cn @waterstonesl1 The talk has as its theme, #MeToo Moments: men misbehaving in China.
“Chilli bean paste was big business, had been for Gran’s family for four or five generations. Sichuan peppers, on the other hand, were the sort of thing any small trader could sell. All they needed was a place to set up their stall. But, humble though the trade was, the Sichuan pepper was as essential as chilli bean paste at all Pingle Town dinner tables [. . .] Dad had kicked around the chilli bean paste factory for over twenty years, learning the ins and outs of his trade under the tutelage of his shifu, Chen, and if it had taught him one thing, it was that people were born to sweat. You ate chilli bean paste, and Sichuan peppers, and ma-la spicy hotpot, to work up a good sweat, and screwing a girl made you sweat even more. The more you sweated, the happier you felt, Dad reckoned. He remembered the fiery heat that the sweat-soaked bed-sheets in Baby Girl’s house gave off.”
Read a review of Yan Ge’s novel, The Chilli Bean Paste Clan HERE
Meet the publisher in person on Thurs 1 Nov.
“Writing is a reflection of real human life and what we care about,” Roh-Suan Tung.
The BookBlast® Diary interview is HERE
Meet the author in person on Thurs 1 Nov.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: “A novel I’ve been working on for four years. It is set in a fictional town, Pingle, in the southwest of China. It’s the third book of my trilogy of Pingle Town. The Chilli Bean Paste Clan is the second one. The first one is a coming of age novel called May Queen,” Yan Ge.
The BookBlast® Diary interview is HERE
Meet the translator in person on Thurs 1 Nov.
Q: Why do you translate?
A: “I love the language, and writing. When things go well, I feel I’m opening a window on another world for readers and that’s a great privilege,” Nicky Harman.
The BookBlast® Diary interview is HERE
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Commissioned in response to the US travel ban, Don’t Panic, I’m Islamic includes cartoons, graffiti, photography, colouring in pages, memoir, short stories by 34 contributors from around the world, including: Hassan Abdulrazzak, Leila Aboulela, Moris Farhi, Alex Wheatle, Sabrina Mahfouz, Chris Riddell . . .