The Book of Shanghai (Paperback)

The characters in this literary exploration of one of the world’s biggest cities are all on a mission. Whether it is responding to events around them, or following some impulse of their own, they are defined by their determination – a refusal to lose themselves in a city that might otherwise leave them anonymous, disconnected, alone. From the neglected mother whose side-hustle in collecting sellable waste becomes an obsession, to the schoolboy determined to end a long-standing feud between his family and another, the characters in The Book of Shanghai show a defiance that reminds us why Shanghai – despite its hurtling economic growth –remains an epicentre for individual creativity.

Chen Danyan was born in 1958 in Beijing, and moved to Shanghai as a child. After studying Chinese literature at East China Normal University (1978'1982), she worked as an editor for the children's Epoch magazine. Her autobiographical novel Nine Lives (1992) dealt with childhood experiences of the Cultural Revolution, and received the UNESCO Prize for Peace and Tolerance and was nominated for the 1996 German Youth Literature Prize. She is best known for her trilogy of biographical narratives: Shanghai Memorabilia, Shanghai Princess and Shanghai Beauty. Central to her recent work is an exploration of the lives of younger generations (in particular young women), growing up in the context of China's one-child policy. Xia Shang (born in Shanghai, 1969) is a novelist, often associated with the post-avant-garde school of Chinese writers, as well as a graphic designer. He is the author of the novels East Coast Chronicle, The Lazarus Child's Wandering, Taxidermist and Bare Undead. He currently lives between Shanghai and New York. Cai Jun is one of China's bestselling horror writers. He started his writing career at twenty-two and was quickly awarded the Bertelsmann People's Literature Award for New Writers. His novels include The Tower of Black Swan, Mysterious Message, Murdering Things Past, and the serialised novel The Longest Night. His novel 19th Floor of Hell won the Sina Literary Award and is one of three of Jun's novels to have been made into a feature film. Two of his books have been developed into television series, and his work has been translated into six languages. Wang Anyi (born 1954) is a novelist, screenwriter, and short story writer. She is the author of over 100 short stories, 40 novelettes, 10 novels, and various essays and prose pieces. Her most famous work is The Song of Everlasting Sorrow, which was adapted for screen (by Stanley Kwan), television (by Ding Hei) and stage. She is among the most widely read authors of the post-Mao era and is one of China's most influential and innovative writers. She has won numerous awards including the Mao Dun Literature Award in 2000, and her novel Baotown was nominated for the Los Angeles Times' Book of the Year, and the 2011 Man Booker International Prize. She lives in Shanghai and is currently chair of the Writers' Association of Shanghai, and professor of Chinese literature and creative writing at Fudan University. Chen Qiufan (born 1981), also known as Stanley Chan, is a science fiction writer, columnist, and scriptwriter. His first novel The Waste Tide (originally published in 2013) has been translated into English by Ken Liu and published by Tor and Head of Zeus in 2019. His short stories have won three Galaxy Awards for Chinese Science Fiction, and twelve Nebula Awards for Science Fiction and Fantasy in Chinese. 'the Fish of Lijiang' received the Best Short Form Award at the 2012 Science Fiction & Fantasy Translation Awards. His stories have been published in Fantasy & Science Fiction, MIT Technology Review, Clarkesworld, Year's Best SF, Interzone, and Lightspeed, as well as influential Chinese science fiction magazine Science Fiction World. Teng Xiaolan was born in Shanghai in 1976, and began writing in 2001. Her first short story collection, Ten Roses, was published in 2005. She has had pieces featured in People's Literature magazine and various other literary journals. She received the Lu Xun Literature Prize for her novella, A Beautiful Day. Dai Conrong is a Professor of Comparative Literature and World Literature at the Faculty of Chinese Language and Literature, Fudan University, Shanghai, China. She is now serving as the Chinese co-director at Confucius Institute for Scotland in the University of Edinburgh. At Fudan she is Deputy Dean in the Faculty of Chinese Language and Literature where she also holds the post of Director at the Centre for Literary Translation and Studies. She is a board member of the Shanghai Writers Association and the