"I didn't say I won't do interviews. I'm going to prepare with both hands. I'll interview Xu Lingjun first. He has not been very popular on the island in the past two years."

A smile appeared on Xianxian's lips when he said this.

As early as a few years ago, when Lin Chaoyang's works began to be published in Hong Kong, these publications would be brought to the island from time to time by some literati who traveled between Hong Kong and Bay Island. However, at that time, Lin Chaoyang's works were only circulated in a small area.

.

It was not until recently that Lin Haiyin's Pure Literature Publishing House officially introduced several of Lin Chaoyang's works to Bay Island that Lin Chaoyang's influence was able to expand among ordinary readers.

The most tangible manifestation of this influence is the hot sales of several imported works on the island.

So far, Lin Chaoyang has introduced a total of four works, namely "The Death of Van Gogh" and "Shutter Island"

"Guandong" and "The Truman Show".

Among them, three works, including "The Death of Van Gogh", "Shutter Island" and "The Truman Show", have sold between tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of copies. The sales of "Enter Guandong" have been outstanding, with 26.6 million sold so far.

Thousands of volumes.

Behind the superior sales volume is the support of high reputation.

After "Enter Guandong" was released on the island, it was unanimously praised by readers and critics on the island. Both newspaper supplements published reviews of the novel by well-known writers and critics, which received rave reviews.

"It's convenient for you to interview him!" Mei Xin said with a smile.

Before Zhengxian, the editor-in-chief of the supplement of "United Daily News" was Lin Haiyin, and Lin Haiyin was the driving force behind the introduction of Lin Chaoyang's works to the island.

With this relationship, it would not be difficult for the supplement to interview Lin Chaoyang.

Moreover, last year, Lianhe Daily, at Lin Haiyin's request, even campaigned for Lin Chaoyang to come to the island for exchanges. Although it did not receive official approval in the end, it was still popular.

Zheng Xian also laughed when he heard this. The more he thought about it, the more he thought it was a good idea.

The next morning, a new issue of "United Daily News" was published, and the news that Lin Chaoyang won the Newstate International Literary Award in the United States was published in it, which immediately attracted the attention of the Bay Island literary circles and readers.

Due to political reasons, the two sides of the Taiwan Strait have been separated for many years, but they have similar cultural backgrounds and have the same pursuit of many things.

For example, in terms of literary awards, both sides highly respect the Nobel Prize for Literature; for example, they admire American culture, and the Bay Islands admire it even more than the mainland today.

Lin Chaoyang's name is no stranger to writers and readers on the island. Many people were surprised to see this news.

I never expected that one day I would see a mainland writer winning an American literary award in a Bay Island newspaper.

These people are very curious about Lin Chaoyang's experience of winning the award. Unfortunately, the news published in the "United Daily News" is too brief and cannot satisfy everyone's curiosity.

Japan, Tokyo, Sakurajo Water, Setagaya District.

In the College of Arts and Sciences building, students were entering the lecture theater on the third floor one after another.

The course here today is "Contemporary Chinese Literature Studies". After entering the classroom, the students greeted each other and gathered into a noisy atmosphere.

"Ta! Ta! Ta!"

The door of the classroom was open, and there was a sound of heels touching the floor. The frequency was a bit rapid, and the sound in the classroom immediately dropped.

A moment later, the figure of Professor Naoko Kondo appeared at the door. She walked briskly to the podium with a spring-like smile on her face.

At this time, the classroom was completely quiet. Naoko Kondo glanced around the students and nodded slightly.

Then he said: "Students, before today's class starts, I want to share some news with you."

Hearing this, many students looked curious.

"Just two days ago, Mr. Xu Lingjun from China won the Newstat International Literature Prize in the United States!"

When Naoko Kondo announced the news, her face was full of excitement, and the students below immediately started whispering to each other.

The name "Xu Lingjun" is no stranger to the students. On the one hand, it is because Kondo Naoko highly admires this Chinese writer and often explains his works to the students.

On the other hand, it is because Xu Lingjun’s works are among the most popular foreign literary works in Japan in the past two years. Everyone is a student of literature-related majors, and many people have read these works.

While the students were discussing privately, Naoko Kondo introduced slightly excitedly:

"The Neustadt International Literary Prize is a well-known literary award in the United States. Giuseppe Ongaretti, one of the three masters of hermit poetry as we know it, is the first winner of the Neustadt International Literary Prize.

Famous writers such as Gabriel García Márquez and Francis Ponge have all won the Neustat International Prize for Literature.

Counting the French Renaudeau Literary Prize in 1987, this is already the second major international literary award that Mr. Xu Lingjun has won, which is enough to illustrate Mr. Xu Lingjun's achievements in literary creation.

Mr. Xu Lingjun is one step closer to the Nobel Prize in Literature."

At the end of the speech, Kondo Naoko's expression was moved, and she felt even more excited than the winner herself.

The students understand this sentiment of Kondo Naoko very well. She can be regarded as a loyal supporter of Xu Lingjun and a powerful promoter of the dissemination of Xu Lingjun's works in Japan.

And to be ranked alongside people like Giuseppe and Marquez is indeed something worthy of special mention. Thinking like this, the students couldn't help but raise their evaluation of Xu Lingjun.

After sharing her joy with the students, Naoko Kondo started today’s class.

After class, as soon as she returned to the office, she heard the phone ringing, and she picked up the phone.

The caller was Miyu Kitamura, urging her to see how far the translation work of "Father" was progressing.

Lin Chaoyang's "Father" was completed in late August. The publishing houses on both sides of the Taiwan Strait and three places were the first to receive the manuscript. In Japan, it was more than a week later than Kawade Study Room. After all, the manuscript had to travel across the ocean.

Kawade received "Father" from his study room and immediately handed the manuscript to Naoko Kondo.

In recent years, most of the translation work of Lin Chaoyang's works in Japan has been completed by Naoko Kondo and Shozo Fujii.

The two also established a good cooperative relationship with Kawade Shobo.

"How can it be so fast? After I got the manuscript, I spent half a month studying it. I started translating it two weeks ago, and now I have only translated less than one-sixth."

"Is this a quick thing? Be careful, it's Lin Sang's work!"

"I know you are anxious and want to catch up with the craze of Lin Sang winning the award, but it is unrealistic for you to ask me to come up with the translation within a few days.

Besides, there are also steps such as proofreading, typesetting, and printing.”

Kondo Naoko shook her head after hanging up the phone. The publishing house really couldn't deal with the publishing house calmly for many years when it came to winning an award. She understood this situation very well.

When a writer wins an award, especially a pure literary writer, it is a rare high-exposure moment. It is a good time to sell books. Of course, publishers hope to take this opportunity to sell more books.

However, no matter how good your idea is, you still have to consider reality.

Kawade Shofu urged her to quickly complete the translation work at hand, which was too unrealistic.

Thinking of this, Naoko Kondo smiled again.

As soon as the news of winning the award came out, Lin Sang's works will surely gain many more readers.

Naoko Kondo doesn't care about the sales of her novels. What she cares more about is that Lin Chaoyang's works can be seen by more Japanese people.

While Kondo Naoko and Kitamura Miyu were talking on the phone, Lin Chaoyang was also answering an overseas call.

It was Luann Walter who called to congratulate Lin Chaoyang on behalf of Random House.

"Thank you, thank you. It's really unexpected. I didn't expect that this award would be awarded to me."

After some congratulations, Luanne Walter talked about Lin Chaoyang's award-winning Random House publicity plan.

The Neustadt International Literary Award has a high status in the American literary world. Winning the award will greatly help the writer's international reputation, especially the writer's influence in the United States.

So they took this opportunity to invite Lin Chaoyang to the United States to participate in some activities to consolidate Lin Chaoyang's reputation, which would also be beneficial to the future publication and distribution of Lin Chaoyang's works in the United States.

However, Lin Chaoyang has recently been busy with activities arranged by the domestic literary association, and it is unlikely that he will go to the United States to stay for too long in a hurry.

After understanding the situation, Luan Walter felt a little regretful, and finally thought of a compromise.

"Then let's wait until the Neustater Prize is awarded next year."

The Neustater Prize will be awarded in May next year, and there will be a wave of exposure at that time, but the popularity is definitely not as high as when the award was first announced.

After settling the matter, Luan Walter asked about Lin Chaoyang's new work.

Lin Chaoyang's cooperation with Random House is far less intimate than his cooperation with cross-strait, three places, and Japan.

Therefore, he did not tell Luanne Walter after he finished writing "The Father". After all, "The Examiner" had not been published in the United States.

This time Luan Walter specifically asked about it, and Lin Chaoyang roughly told him the story of "Father" and its unique narrative structure.

After listening to his introduction, Luan Walter was deeply interested.

In addition, Lin Chaoyang won the Neustadt International Literature Prize this time, and his reputation in the American literary circle and among readers will inevitably increase.

So Luanne Walter proposed the idea of ​​introducing both novels to the United States, and Lin Chaoyang naturally agreed happily.

After talking on the phone with Luan Walter, Lin Chaoyang was not idle and drove to the Lu Xun Literary Institute in Balizhuang. The day before yesterday, Tang Yin invited him to share his feelings about winning the award and his creative experience with the writer class of the Lu Xun Literary Institute.

In total, this is the third time that Lin Chaoyang has come to Lu Xun Literature College to give lectures. The class of students giving this lecture is almost the same as the one who lectured last time.

The reason why I say "almost a group of people" is because most of the students in this class are members of the short-term student class in 1987.

Then in 1988, Lu Xun College of Literature and Yan'an Normal University jointly organized a graduate class. These people studied at Lu Xun College of Literature for another two years, and after graduation they received a postgraduate diploma.

Many of these students have been to Xiaoliubukou Hutong and are frequent visitors to Lin Chaoyang's house. The atmosphere when everyone met was warm and harmonious.

The students were full of curiosity about the Neustadt International Literature Prize. When it came to winning the prize, Lin Chaoyang could not tell you much because his knowledge of the prize was also very limited.

After telling the story about Xiao Qian's nomination, the students realized that winning the award requires some connections. But after thinking about it, everyone felt that this idea was wrong. First, the writer's works and literary achievements must be recognized.

Only if you get recognition from your peers.

"Teacher Chaoyang, do you think you have a good chance of winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in the future?" a student asked.
To be continued...