Hong Kong (AsiaNews/Agencies) –The Chinese author Jiang Rong has won the first edition of the Asian Literary Prize thanks to his novel “Wolf Totem”. In order to write it he spent 11 years among the nomadic tribes of Mongolia.
Jiang, 61, was unable to collect the prize owing to an illness, but expressing his gratitude he said: “I spent... six years writing Wolf Totem, my only hope was to produce an appealing story”.
The prize, for a value of 10 thousand dollars, aims to award authors who have yet to be published in English. The four other writers shortlisted for the prize were Jose Dalisay Jr, Reeti Gadekar, Nu Nu Yi Inwa and Xu Xi.
Adrienne Clarkson, former governor general of Canada who was one of the three judges, described Wolf Totem as a "panoramic novel". “The slowly developing narrative is rendered in vivid detail and has a powerful cumulative effect," she added in a statement. The English version of the book is due to be published in March next year.