Picador Asia Launch

This is the first major initiative of this kind by a British trade publisher. Our aim is to acquire 3-4 new titles each year, all bearing specific significance to East Asia. Working in conjunction with our sister companies PanMacmillan Asia and PanMacmillan Australia, we will publish simultaneously throughout England, Australia and other English language markets – as well as across Asia itself.

Drawn from countries including China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam, the Picador Asia list will combine fiction and non-fiction, and will also see established authors – their work available for the first time in translation – published alongside original work written in English. As with Picador’s UK list, however, our primary emphasis will, of course, be on quality of voice.

In addition, literary agent Toby Eady, acting as Picador Asia’s Publishing Consultant, will bring a wealth of expertise in Asian literature to the venture – having already brought great writers such as Jung Chang, Xinran, Ma Jian, Yeh Mah and Tim Clissold to western audiences (and bestseller lists) around the world.

Two authors at the forefront of a bold new generation of Chinese writers will launch Picador Asia in the UK.  February Flowers and The Eye of Jade will be published on 6th April 2007. 

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February Flowers by Fan Wu is a coming-of-age novel that deals with previously taboo sexual and societal issues. It tells the story of two girls growing up in contemporary China, the friendship that develops between them – and the differences in their backgrounds and ideologies that ultimately drive them apart.

Fan Wu grew up on a farm in southern China, where her parents were exiled during the Cultural Revolution.  She lives and works in northern California.  February Flowers is her first novel.

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The Eye of Jade by Diane Wei Liang is the story of Mei, a private investigator, and her search for an ancient Chinese artifact. Against this backdrop, Liang explores family, relationships and independence in a modern and rapidly changing Beijing.

Diane Wei Liang was born in China in 1966.  She was studying at Beijing University in the 1980s but was forced to leave and continue her studies in the USA because of her involvement in the students’ revolt that led to the Tiananmen Square massacre.  She now lives in London.