2007 Man Asian Literary Prize

2007 Man Asian Literary Prize Winner Announced

Hong Kong, 10 November 2007 � A panel of three internationally acclaimed authors and experienced literary judges named Jiang Rong winner of the inaugural Man Asian Literary Prize for the novel Wolf Totem.

Adrienne Clarkson, Chair of the judges for the inaugural prize praised Wolf Totem: "A panoramic novel of life on the Mongolian grasslands during the Cultural Revolution, this masterly work is also a passionate argument about the complex interrelationship between nomads and settlers, animals and human beings, nature and culture. The slowly developing narrative is rendered in vivid detail and has a powerful cumulative effect. A book like no other. Memorable."

The prize winner was announced at a celebratory dinner at Cipriani Hong Kong. Jiang Rong was awarded USD 10,000 and the book𠏋 translator, Howard Goldblatt, was awarded USD 3,000.

Wolf Totem was selected from shortlist of five:

Jose Dalisay Jr., Soledad's Sister
Reeti Gadekar, Families at Home
Nu Nu Yi Inwa, Smile As They Bow
Jiang Rong, Wolf Totem
Xu Xi, Habit of a Foreign Sky

For complete details, please see the press release.

Click here for the Chinese press release.

Click here for additional information for the Press.

Submission for the 2008 Prize will begin on 5 December 2007. Details of the Prize will come up soon.

The Man Asian Literary Prize

The Inaugural Man Asian Literary Prize awarded on 10 November 2007.

This major new literary prize aims to recognise the best of new Asian literature and to bring it to the attention of the world literary community. A distinguished panel of judges selects a single work of fiction to be awarded the prize each year. Works submitted for consideration must not yet have been published in English, although they may have been published in other languages.

The prize is jointly administered by representatives of the Man Hong Kong International Literary Festival, the University of Hong and the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and is sponsored by Man Group plc, a leading global financial services firm based in London.

More than 240 valid submissions were received before the entry period closed on 31 March 2007. Submissions were received from throughout Asia, in particular from India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Myanmar, Indonesia, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, China, Macau, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, Japan. These included works both originally in English as well as works translated from languages as wide-ranging and Chinese, Japanese, Burmese, Bahasa Indonesian, Hindi and Malayalam and came from both first-time authors as well as authors who are well-established in their own countries or more widely.