Chinese writer Jiang Rong has won the first Man Asian Literary Prize for his novel Wolf Totem.
Worth $10,000, the prize is sponsored by the same company that sponsors
the Booker Prize. Howard Goldblatt, who translated the book, won $3,000.
Adrienne Clarkson, chair of the judges, commented: "A panoramic novel
of life on the Mongolian grasslands during the Cultural Revolution,
this masterly work is also a passionate argument about the complex
interrelationship between nomads and settlers, animals and human
beings, nature and culture. The slowly developing narrative is rendered
in vivid detail and has a powerful cumulative effect. A book like no
other. Memorable."
Penguin Press will publish Wolf Totem ($26.95, 9781594201561/1594201560) here next March.
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The 33 winners of the 2007 New Mexico Book Awards were honored last
Friday. In addition, Rudolfo Anaya and Tony Hillerman received lifetime
achievement awards. To see the winners, click here.
Beginning today, the winning titles will be displayed in Borders
bookstores in New Mexico through January; the company, a co-sponsor of
the awards, is also hosting signing events for winning authors.
The New Mexico State Library is organizing a display of the winning
books as a traveling exhibit for libraries around the state. The Rio
Rancho Library is also displaying the winning titles at its main
library.