"Twenty years ago, there was a young literature lover whose first book was printed by herself, put in a friend's bookstore, discovered by the writer Wang Anyi, and later became a writer." Xue Shu, vice chairman of the Shanghai Writers Association, remembers this experience vividly, and she believes that as more publications are placed on the shelves, the broader and far-reaching meaning of books lies in the dissemination and transmission. "What does your book leave behind for the reader? What will readers see in your book? This is something that every writer needs to think about and pursue. As a Shanghai writer, I will devote myself to creation more sincerely and diligently, to write about our city, our fathers and fellow countrymen, and our beautiful era. ”
Behind her story is a whole wall of various "Shanghai stories". Today, the 2022 Chinese New Year Shanghai Writers Association Members Literary Works Exhibition was unveiled at the Shanghai Julu Road Writers Bookstore, bringing together 278 kinds of works created by 151 members of the Writers Association in the past two years, which is a concentrated display of the latest achievements in Shanghai literary creation. The exhibition will run until March 7 and is free and open to the public.
The 278 works on display this time have a variety of themes, including novels, poems, essays, literary reviews, etc., including red theme reading materials, as well as lyrics of Shanghai culture and Jiangnan culture, as well as popular reading materials suitable for young people to read.
Among them, many of the key works organized and promoted by the Municipal Writers Association around the theme of celebrating the centenary of the founding of the Party, such as the "Red Footprints" series of trilogies "The Red Secret in Shikumen", "The Spark of Stars in the Dark Night", "The Dawn of Victory Before Dawn", the "Red Starting Point" series "Zhong Ying: The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in Shanghai", "The Great Anniversary Day", "New Yuyangli No. 6", "Sonorous Overture - The Secretariat of the China Labor Union", "Shanghai Morning - Remembering the First University Founded by the CPC", "The Dawn of the Towel": The Beginning and End of the CPC's First Civilian Girls' School", "White Paper and Red Characters", "Up - Documentary of the Film Production of "Children of the Storm" and the Creation of the "March of the Volunteer Army"", "Unforgettable Commemoration - Three Armed Uprisings of Shanghai Workers", etc.
"These works show the history of the Cpc's founding in the past hundred years of singing, weeping, and bloody struggle, and highlight Shanghai's responsibility as the birthplace of the party and the place where the original heart originated." This year, there will also be a number of documentary works of red starting points. Wang Wei, secretary of the party group and full-time vice chairman of the Shanghai Writers Association, said.
In the second half of last year, the Municipal Writers Association solicited new literary works published in 2020 and 2021 from members, and the exhibitor list included Wang Anyi, Ye Xin, Wang Xiaoying, Sun Yan, Zhao Lihong, Jin Yucheng, Chen Sihe, Chen Cun, Qin Wenjun, Wang Xiaoming, Chen Danyan, Sun Ganlu, Yang Yang and other writers and scholars, with a strong lineup.
Whether it is Wang Anyi's long new work "A Knife, a Thousand Words", Ye Xin's "Yunshan Wanli Full of Spring", or the "Writers' Association Pocket Book" small hardcover 9 kinds, all reflect the inheritance and continuation of Shanghai's literary circle. Among them, Sun Yong, Chen Cun and Cheng Xiaoying became famous very early, but they were also looking for new ways of expression. For example, "Fairy Hand" breaks through the realist writing method and uses new martial arts expressions to tell the extraordinary story of "worldly strangers"; "First Love" and "The First Apple" look back at the past years, still maintaining the passion of youth and the light that is not covered by time. As the backbone of writing, "One Hundred Years of Good Union", "Off-Road" and "The Secret of Genes" represent the writing of female writers such as Teng Xiaolan, Xue Shu and Yao Emei on the fine fragments of ordinary life, each with its own style. Ren Xiaowen, Sun Wei and Wang Ruoxuan reflect the writing sharpness of the younger generation.
The Writers' Bookstore, which is the venue for the exhibition, is known as the "bookstore with the highest probability of encountering writers by chance", and was founded by the Shanghai Writers Association in the late 1990s, when its main function was to provide members with a space for the display of works and internal services.
After the renovation, it reopened on World Book Day on April 23, 2018, becoming a new reading space for public services. Because it is located in the traditional style of the old street Julu Road, close to the famous historical building Eros Garden, the writer's bookstore is full of old Shanghai style and rich literary and artistic atmosphere, and its book varieties are known for "specialization, refinement, specialty and new", becoming a well-known cultural punch card in Shanghai.
The "2022 New Year Shanghai Writers Association Members' Literary Works Exhibition" held for the first time in a physical bookstore is also a specific measure to implement the reading project for the whole people. The exhibition is guided by Shanghai Writers Association, sponsored by Shanghai Book and Periodicals Distribution Industry Association, Shanghai Writers Association Creation Office, Shanghai Literary Creation Center, and hosted by Shanghai Writers Club Co., Ltd. (Writers Bookstore).
Li Shuang, president of the Municipal Book Distribution Industry Association, said that the exhibition has created a new section of the Shanghai Bookstore Theme Book Fair, which is conducive to further introducing excellent writers and excellent works to the majority of literary enthusiasts, building a solid foundation for urban humanistic reading, and enhancing the soft power of cultural reading in the city.
During the exhibition, the managers of many brand physical bookstores in Shanghai will observe and communicate with writers on the spot, creating a new model for the selection of books in bookstores in the future. The Shanghai Development Association will successively launch similar theme book exhibitions in more bookstores, so that the reading of the whole people in Shanghai will be more normal and life-oriented, more close to the people and more professional, so that the public can enjoy the happy time of visiting the bookstore.
Author: Xu Yang
Image source: Organizer, Xu Yang/Photo
Editor-in-Charge: Xiaofang Xing
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