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Events

Paper Republic: A collective of translators promoting Chinese literature

BY NICKY HARMAN

Paper Republic is a collective of translators with a mission to promote contemporary Chinese literature in English translation. Established in 2007, we are now officially registered as a charity (non-profit) in the United Kingdom. And we’re calling on any readers who share our interests to support our work to introduce more great Chinese writers to English-language readers.

WHAT WE DO

We identify the very best new Chinese writing – and promote it to English-language readers.

We commission, edit and publish short fiction and essays online – and, if we publish a translation online ourselves, we promise it will be completely free to read.

We host an extensive database that provides bibliographic information on Chinese writers and their English translators.

We get people talking about Chinese literature – online, and in live events.

We also create campaigns. Take a look at Read Paper Republic, a campaign we started in 2015. In our first year, we published a new piece of short writing by a contemporary Chinese writer every week. Since then, we have continued the campaign with two mini series, Afterlives and Bare Branches. Last year we secured funding and support from OWMagazine and the LA Review of Book’s China Channel to build on the success of Read Paper Republic by venturing into literary non-fiction. So far, we have run three series of Read Paper Republic – Dispatches, and hope to publish more in 2019-2020.

SUPPORT OUR WORK

We have big plans for the coming year, and for that we need your support. Please consider making a donation to our Paypal account(You can also find the button on our main page, and you can donate even if you don’t have a Paypal account). Everything you donate will go directly towards supporting the work we do:

  • Bringing the best works of Chinese literature into English
  • Supporting emerging translators
  • Maintaining the Internet’s best resource for Chinese literature.

COME TO OUR EVENT

If you’re in London on the 29th of November, please come and spend an evening with translators, authors, publishers, readers, and other friends of Paper Republic:

6.30pm on Friday November 29th at the Coach and Horses (29 Greek Street, London, W1D 5DH.

The evening will feature:

  • A raffle (with prizes including rare books and magazines, and other unique goodies you won’t find anywhere else!)
  • A chance to learn more about our recent projects, our plans, and what our new status means for the future of the organisation
  • Drinks
  • Balloons!

Sign up now to join the party on Eventbrite.

About Nicky Harman

I live in the UK and translate full-time from Chinese, focussing on fiction, literary non-fiction, and occasionally poetry. When not translating, I work on Paper-Republic.org, a non-profit website promoting Chinese literature in translation. I organize translation-focused events, mentor new translators, give regular talks and workshops on translation, and judge translation competitions. I blog on Asian Books Blog, and tweet, with Helen Wang, as China Fiction Book Club @cfbcuk.