New voices from China turn new literary page

[Photo provided to China Daily]

Lu, whose first novel Young Babylon was published in English in 2015, said he writes about "the memories of my generation－of loneliness and life's absurdities".

At the fair, he told his audience a story about his father's obsession with Tango, and how he hid his fondness for the South American dance during the "cultural revolution" (1966-76) and volunteered to teach others on the streets of Suzhou, a city in eastern China, for six years before the first dance venue appeared there in 1986.

Jing Barts, a publishing and cultural consultant, said Chinese authors received a lot of attention in Frankfurt from publishers and the media in Britain and Latin America.

Hosting Chinese authors was among some 4,000 events that the fair held this year.

As one of the world's biggest annual literary gatherings, the fair attracted 7,100 exhibitors from more than 100 countries, and 277,000 commercial and private visitors, a press statement from the fair's organizers said.

In 2009, China was selected the guest country and took the largest delegation to the fair, comprising more than 1,000 publishing professionals and 100 writers. Since then, foreign publishers and readers seem to have shown greater interest in Chinese books. This year, the Chinese delegation had 150 members.

Chinese books such as Keywords to Understand China by New World Press were also launched at the fair.