Yu Hua (author)

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Yu.

Yu Hua 余华
225px Yu Hua at the 2005 Singapore Writers Festival
Born	(1960-04-03) April 3, 1960 Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
Occupation	Novelist, essayist
Language	Chinese
Nationality	Chinese
Alma mater	Lu Xun Literature School
Period	1984 - present
Genre	Novel, prose
Literary movement	Avant-garde
Notable works	To Live Chronicle of a Blood Merchant Brothers Cries in the Drizzle
Notable awards	5th Zhuang Zhongwen Literary Prize 1992 James Joyce Award 2002 Ordre des Arts et des Lettres 2004
Relatives	Father: Hua Zizhi (华自治) Mother: Yu Peiwen (余佩文)

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Yu.

Yu Hua (simplified Chinese: 余华; traditional Chinese: 余華; pinyin: Yú Huá) is a Chinese author, born April 3, 1960 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. He practiced dentistry for five years and later turned to fiction writing in 1983 because he didn't like "looking into people’s mouths the whole day." Writing allowed him to be more creative and flexible. He grew up during the Cultural Revolution and many of his stories and novels are marked by this experience. One of the distinctive characteristics of his work is his penchant for detailed descriptions of brutal violence.

Yu Hua has written four novels, six collections of stories, and three collections of essays. His most important novels are Chronicle of a Blood Merchant and To Live. The latter novel was adapted for film by Zhang Yimou. Because the film was banned in China, it instantly made the novel a bestseller and Yu Hua a worldwide celebrity. His novels have been translated into English, French, German, Italian, Dutch, Persian, Polish, Spanish, Swedish, Hungarian, Serbian, Hebrew, Japanese, Korean and Malayalam.

Awards

• Grinzane Cavour Prize (1998) for To Live
• James Joyce Award (2002). He was the first Chinese writer to receive this award.
• Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France (2004)
• Barnes & Noble Discovery Great New Writers Award (2004)
• Special Book Award of China (2005)
• Prix Courrier International (2008)

Works

Note: cited works are those translated into English from the original Chinese.

Short story collections

• • Leaving Home at Eighteen (Chinese: 十八岁出门远行; pinyin: Shíbā Suì Chūmén Yuǎnxíng)
  • Classical Love
  • Blood and Plum Blossoms (Chinese: 鮮血梅花; pinyin: Xiānxuè Méihuā)
• World Like Mist: Eight Stories (pinyin: Shi shi ru yan) ISBN 986-7691-37-7
• 
  (simplified Chinese: 十个词汇里的中国; traditional Chinese: 十個詞彙裡的中國; pinyin: Shí Gè Cíhuì Lǐ De Zhōngguó) ISBN 978-986-120-477-2
• 
  (Chinese: 黄昏里的男孩; pinyin: Huánghūn lǐ de nánhái)

Novels

• 
  (Chinese: 活着; pinyin: Huózhe
• 
  (Chinese: 许三观卖血记; pinyin: Xǔ Sānguān Mài Xuè Jì)
• 
  (Chinese: 在细雨中呼喊; pinyin: Zaixiyuzhong Huhan)
• 
  (Chinese: 兄弟; pinyin: Xiōng Dì, 2005–2006) shortlisted at the 2008 Man Asian Literary Prize
• 
  

Further reading

• Chinese Writers on Writing featuring Yu Hua. Ed. Arthur Sze. (Trinity University Press, 2010).

External links

• A conversation with Yu Hua at UCLA
• Profile, nytimes.com