The BBC selected 70 works by Commonwealth writers, such as Harry Potter

2022 marks the 70th anniversary of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II. Recently, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and The Reading Agency jointly launched a book list of 70 works, covering a total of 31 Commonwealth countries on six continents, which is considered to be enough to "define the shared narrative of British society and its cultural heritage". Best-selling titles such as Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings are not on the list.

Compiled | Shen Lu

According to the British "Independent" and other media news, on April 18, local time, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and the British Reading Agency (The Reading Agency) officially released a long book list containing 70 works by Commonwealth writers. Since Queen Elizabeth II ascended the throne in 1952, 10 works selected every 10 years represent the seven 10 years of her reign. Many of these works are also well known to Chinese readers.

Stills from the documentary The Coronation of the King.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the 96-year-old Queen Elizabeth II's accession to the throne, also known as the "Platinum Jubilees". The Big Jubilee Read is part of a series of celebrations that reflect classic books published by authors from commonwealth countries during the 70 years of his reign, with a view to rallying the British public around these shared narratives that define British society and its cultural heritage.

The list of selected works covers 31 Commonwealth countries on six continents, most of which are novels, but also includes the short story collection The Boat, as well as poetry collections such as Death of a Naturalist, the first work of Seamus Heaney, winner of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature.

A number of other works have been adapted into films and televisions. Among them, British writer Anthony Burgess's "A Clockwork Orange" in 1962 and "Midnight's Children" by British-Indian writer Salman Rushdie in 1981 were adapted into films. The 1985 dystopian novel The Handmaid's Tale, by Canadian writer Margaret Atwood, was adapted into a television series. Directed by Ang Lee and adapted from another Canadian writer, Yann Martel's novel of the same name, "Life of Pi" won four awards at the 85th Academy Awards and became a classic in the hearts of a generation.

In addition to the well-known works mentioned above, this list of books also includes some of the lesser-known classics. They are both a reflection of a bygone era and a close connection to the present. Sam Selvon, a Trinidadian and Tobagoer, recounted in his 1956 book The Lonely Londoners how the Windrush Generation arrived in Britain and gradually adjusted to a new life. After the Second World War, Britain faced a severe labor shortage. The British Nationality Act 1948 granted residents of the Caribbean colonies British citizenship and the right to settle in the UK. In the same year, the British government sent the ship HMT Empire Windrush to Jamaica, bringing more than 500 Caribbeans back to work and live in the British mainland. By 1970, nearly 500,000 Caribbeans had emigrated to the UK. They are known as the "Windswept Generation". In recent years, however, British politics has been mired in a "storm scandal", and former "British subjects" are now threatened with deportation.

"This list of books offers an opportunity to really dig into the stories of every continent. It takes the reader through the decades and re-approaches works that we may never have read before. Suzy Klein, director of television at the BBC's Arts and Classical Music, sees queen's Platinum Jubilee as a "perfect time" for readers of all ages to share their love of books.

However, after the list was released, several British media noted that writer J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series was not included. Since its publication in 1997, the series has sold more than 500 million copies worldwide. In response, Susheila Nasta, Emeritus Professor of Modern and Contemporary Literature at Queen Mary University of London, said: "In the 10 years from 1992 to 2001, the Commonwealth published more and more books, so we decided to make room for equally excellent works". At the same time, she said the purpose of the list was to recommend books that readers "may not have read before." In addition, in the eyes of the organizing committee, Harry Potter is mainly considered to be a "children's book".

This response has also been questioned by some people. Critics have pointed out that the 2005 novel "The Book Thief", published by Australian author Markus Zusak, was also considered a children's book, but it was selected. Over the past two years, Rowling has been deeply disputed for her speech on social platforms accused of "hurting the feelings of transgender people". In addition to Harry Potter, JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and Ian Fleming's James Bond series were also excluded from the list, both of which sold more than 100 million books worldwide. The Golden Notebook, winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize in Literature, The Golden Notebook, was hailed by the jury as "the pinnacle of the 20th century in examining the relationship between men and women."

Attached: A list of 70 selected works by BBC Writers

1952-1961

The Palm-Wine Drinkard– Amos Tutuola (1952, Nigeria)

The Hills Were Joyful Together– Roger Mais (1953, Jamaica)

In the Castle of My Skin– George Lamming (1953, Barbados)

My Bones and My Flute– Edgar Mittelholzer (1955, Guyana)

The Lonely Londoners– Sam Selvon (1956, Trinidad and Tobago/England)

The Guide– RK Narayan (1958, India)

To Sir, With Love– ER Braithwaite (1959, Guyana)

One Moonlit Night– Caradog Prichard (1961, Wales)

A House for Mr Biswas– VS Naipaul (1961, Trinidad and Tobago/England)

Sunlight on a Broken Column– Attia Hosain (1961, India)

1962-1971

A Clockwork Orange– Anthony Burgess (1962, England)

The Interrogation– JMG Le Clézio (1963, France/Mauritius)

The Girls of Slender Means– Muriel Spark (1963, Scotland)

Arrow of God– Chinua Achebe (1964, Nigeria)

Death of a Naturalist– Seamus Heaney (1966, Northern Ireland)

Wide Sargasso Sea– Jean Rhys (1966, Dominica/Wales)

A Grain of Wheat– Ng g wa Thiong’o (1967, Kenya)

Picnic at Hanging Rock– Joan Lindsay (1967, Australia)

The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born– Ayi Kwei Armah (1968, Ghana)

When Rain Clouds Gather– Bessie Head (1968, Botswana/South Africa)

1972-1981

The Nowhere Man– Kamala Markandaya (1972, India)

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy– John Le Carré (1974, England)

The Thorn Birds– Colleen McCullough (1977, Australia)

The Crow Eaters– Bapsi Sidhwa (1978, Pakistan)

The Sea, The Sea– Iris Murdoch (1978, England)

Who Do You think You Are?– Alice Munro (1978, Canada)

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy– Douglas Adams (1979, England)

Tsotsi– Athol Fugard (1980, South Africa)

Clear Light of Day– Anita Desai (1980, India)

Midnight’s Children– Salman Rushdie (1981, England/India)

1982-1991

Schindler’s Ark– Thomas Keneally (1982, Australia)

Beka Lamb– Zee Edgell (1982, Belize)

The Bone People– Keri Hulme (1984, New Zealand)

The Handmaid’s Tale– Margaret Atwood (1985, Canada)

Summer Lightning– Olive Senior (1986, Jamaica)

The Whale Rider– Witi Ihimaera (1987, New Zealand)

The Remains of the Day– Kazuo Ishiguro (1989, England)

Omeros– Derek Walcott (1990, Saint Lucia)

The Adoption Papers– Jackie Kay (1991, Scotland)

Cloudstreet– Tim Winton (1991, Australia)

1992-2001

The English Patient– Michael Ondaatje (1992, Canada/Sri Lanka)

The Stone Diaries– Carol Shields (1993, Canada)

Paradise– Abdulrazak Gurnah (1994, Tanzania/England)

A Fine Balance– Rohinton Mistry (1995, India/Canada)

Salt– Earl Lovelace (1996, Trinidad and Tobago)

The God of Small Things– Arundhati Roy (1997, India)

The Blue Bedspread– Raj Kamal Jha (1999, India)

Disgrace– JM Coetzee (1999, South Africa/Australia)

White Teeth– Zadie Smith (2000, England)

Life of Pi– Yann Martel (2001, Canada)

2002-2011

Small Island– Andrea Levy (2004, England)

The Secret River– Kate Grenville (2005, Australia)

The Book Thief– Markus Zusak (2005, Australia)

Half of a Yellow Sun– Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2006, Nigeria)

A Golden Age– Tahmima Anam (2007, Bangladesh)

The Boat– Nam Le (2008, Australia)

Wolf Hall– Hilary Mantel (2009, England)

The Book of Night Women– Marlon James (2009, Jamaica)

The Memory of Love– Aminatta Forna (2010, Sierra Leone/Scotland)

Chinaman– Shehan Karunatilaka (2010, Sri Lanka)

2012-2021

Our Lady of the Nile– Scholastique Mukasonga (2012, Rwanda)

The Luminaries– Eleanor Catton (2013, New Zealand)

Behold the Dreamers– Imbolo Mbue (2016, Cameroon)

The Bone Readers– Jacob Ross (2016, Grenada)

How We Disappeared – Jing-Jing Lee (2019, Singapore)

Girl, Woman, Other– Bernardine Evaristo (2019, England)

The Night Tiger– Yangsze Choo (2019, Malaysia)

Shuggie Bain– Douglas Stuart (2020, Scotland)

A Passage North– Anuk Arudpragasam (2021, Sri Lanka)

The Promise– Damon Galgut (2021, South Africa)

Resources:

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/queen-platinum-jubilee-books-jk-rowling-b2059885.html

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/jk-rowling-jubilee-reading-list-b2060646.html

https://www.thenationalnews.com/arts-culture/books/2022/04/22/big-jubilee-read-the-list-of-70-books-that-celebrate-queen-elizabeths-platinum-jubilee/

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/apr/18/the-god-of-small-things-to-shuggie-bain-the-queens-jubilee-book-list