Liu Zhenyun

Liu Zhenyun (born May 1958) is a Chinese novelist and screenwriter.[1] He is best known for his novel Someone to Talk To (awarded the 2011 Mao Dun Literature Prize) as well as his involvement with the many film adaptions of his books. Among these is I Am Not Madame Bovary, produced in collaboration with director Feng Xiaogang, a frequent collaborator of Liu. He is married to noted human rights activist Guo Jianmei.[2]

Liu Zhenyun
Native name
刘震云
BornMay 1958 (age 62)
Yanjin County, Henan, China
OccupationWriter
LanguageChinese
Alma materPeking University
Notable worksSomeone to Talk To
Notable awardsMao Dun Literature Prize
2011
SpouseGuo Jianmei 郭建梅
ChildrenLiu Yulin
In this Chinese name, the family name is Liu.

Life and Work

Liu grew up in the village of Laozhuang in Yanjin County, Henan, China. At age 14, he left his village and joined the army.[3] At age 20, he took the national college entrance exam, achieved the highest score in Henan province, and was accepted at Peking University.[4] After graduation, he became a journalist.[5] In the 1980s Liu began to concentrate seriously on his literary career, publishing his debut novella Tapu, in 1987.

He went on to publish novels such as Hometown, Regime and Blood (故乡天下黄花), Anecdotes in the Hometown (故乡相处流传), Material and Spirit in the Hometown (故乡面和花朵), Nonsense Talk (一腔废话), Cell Phone (手机), The Cook, the Crook, and the Real Estate Tycoon (我叫刘跃进).

His novels Someone to Talk To (一句顶一万句) and I Did Not Kill My Husband (我不是潘金莲) have sold over a million copies each. Someone to Talk To was awarded with Mao Dun Literature Prize in 2011[6] and has sold more than 1.6 million copies.

He has also authored novellas such as A Small Town: Tapu (塔铺), Recruits (新兵连), The Office (单位), Ground Covered with Chicken Feathers (一地鸡毛), Remembering 1942 (温故一九四二). Throughout the years, Liu's works have been translated into over 28 languages.[7]

Many of Liu's books have been adapted into TV series and movies. He has written the screenplays for some of them including: A Small Town: Tapu, Ground Covered with Chicken Feathers, The Cook, the Crook, and the Real Estate Tycoon, Remembering 1942, Someone to Talk To, I Did Not Kill My Husband. Several of these adapted films have been awarded in the film festivals around the world, including the Toronto International Film Festival, the Rome Film Festival, the Busan International Film Festival, and the Hong Kong International Film Festival, among others.

Themes and Influences

Liu often credits his upbringing in Yanjin county as influencing his work, especially growing up in the shadow of the 1942 famine.[8] He also is noted for including political criticism as well as advocating for social justice in his works.[9]

Works
Year Title Chinese Publisher English Publisher Translator
1989 A Small Town: Tapu (塔铺) Writers Publishing House
1991 Hometown, Regime and Blood (故乡天下黄花)[10] 中国青年出版社

(China Youth Press)
1992 Corridors of Power (官场)[11] 华艺出版社

(Hua Yi Publishing House)

 Chinese Literature Press David Kwan
1992 Ground Covered with Chicken Feathers (一地鸡毛)[12] China Youth Press Foreign Languages Press[13]
1992 Official (官人)[14] 长江文艺出版社

(Yangtze River Literature & Art Publishing House)
1993 Anecdotes in the Hometown (故乡相处流传)[15] Hua Yi Publishing House
1998 Material and Spirit in the Hometown (故乡面和花朵)[16]
2002 Nonsense Talk (一腔废话) 中国工人出版社

(China Workers Publishing House)
2003 Cellphone (手机)[17] Writers Publishing House MerwinAsia[18] Howard Goldblatt
2007 The Cook, the Crook, and the Real Estate Tycoon (我叫刘跃进)[19][20] Yangtze River Literature & Art Publishing House Arcade Publishing Sylvia Li-chun Lin & Howard Goldblatt
2009 Someone to Talk To (一句顶一万句)[21][22] (also known as One Sentence Is Ten Thousand Sentences) Duke University Press
2009 Remembering 1942 (温故一九四二)[23][24] People's Literature Publishing House Arcade Publishing
2012 I Did Not Kill My Husband (我不是潘金莲)[25][26] Yangtze River Literature & Art Publishing House
2017 The Era of Watermelon Eaters[27][28] (吃瓜时代的儿女们) Changjiang Literature and Art Publishing House

(长江文艺出版社)

Awards
  • Interviews with Liu Zhenyun
  • List of works (in Chinese)

References
  1. "Film review: I Am Not Madame Bovary – Fan Bingbing defies petty bureaucracy in dark satire". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 25 January 2018. Retrieved 17 January 2018.
  2. "Permission to Speak". NewsChina. Archived from the original on 17 January 2018. Retrieved 17 January 2018.
  3. "Permission to Speak". NewsChina. Archived from the original on 17 January 2018. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  4. 毕楠. "How math made him a better writer - Chinadaily.com.cn". www.chinadaily.com.cn. Archived from the original on 19 January 2018. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  5. "Permission to Speak". NewsChina. Archived from the original on 17 January 2018. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  6. Abrahamsen, Eric. "The Mao Dun Literary Prize Winners". Paper Republic. Archived from the original on 17 January 2018. Retrieved 17 January 2018.
  7. "Beijing International Book Fair-New Reading Promotion Ambassador for BIBF". www.bibf.net. Archived from the original on 31 March 2018. Retrieved 17 January 2018.
  8. Zhenyun, Liu (30 November 2012). "Opinion | Why Won't the Chinese Acknowledge the 1942 Famine?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 17 January 2018. Retrieved 17 January 2018.
  9. "Permission to Speak". NewsChina. Archived from the original on 17 January 2018. Retrieved 17 January 2018.
  10. "Yellow Flowers: All Over Hometown". Amazon.cn. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
  11. Liu, Zhenyun (1994). Corridors of Power. ISBN 750710222X.
  12. "Ground Covered with Chicken Feathers". Amazon.cn. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
  13. Ground Covered with Chicken Feathers. ISBN 7119087576.
  14. 官人. 跨世纪文丛. 长江文艺出版社. December 1992. ISBN 9787535407368. Archived from the original on 30 May 2013.
  15. "Hometown Stories Spread". Amazon.cn. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
  16. "Flour and Flowers from My Homeland". Amazon.cn. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
  17. "Cellphone". Amazon.cn. 作家出版社. Archived from the original on 2 April 2013. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
  18. Zhenyun, Liu (2011). Cellphone. ISBN 978-0983659921.
  19. "I am Liu Yuejin". Amazon.cn. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
  20. Zhenyun, Liu (4 August 2015). The Cook, the Crook, and the Real Estate Tycoon: A Novel of Contemporary China. ISBN 978-1628725209.
  21. "One Sentence Is Ten Thousand Sentences". Amazon.cn. 长江文艺出版社. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
  22. Someone to Talk To: A Novel (Sinotheory). ISBN 0822370832.
  23. "Remembering 1942". Douban.com. 人民文学出版社. Archived from the original on 27 August 2017. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
  24. Zhenyun, Liu (November 2016). Remembering 1942: And Other Chinese Stories. ISBN 978-1628727128.
  25. "I Did Not Kill My Husband". Amazon.cn. 长江文艺出版社. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
  26. Zhenyun, Liu (14 October 2014). I Did Not Kill My Husband. ISBN 978-1628724264.
  27. 吃瓜时代的儿女们. 长江文艺出版社. 1 November 2017. ISBN 9787535499639. Archived from the original on 31 March 2018.
  28. "Who are China's 'Watermelon Eaters?' - Caixin Global". www.caixinglobal.com. Archived from the original on 17 January 2018. Retrieved 17 January 2018.
  29. Zhang Zhongjiang (20 August 2011). "Archived copy" 刘震云莫言等5人作品获第八届茅盾文学奖. Netease (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 8 April 2017. Retrieved 28 July 2012.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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