Founded in 1951, the Department of Chinese of East China Normal University is a well-known academic research center and talent training base at home and abroad. Xu Jie, Xu Zhenyuan, Shi Jingcun, Xu Zhongyu, Qian Gurong, Cheng Junying, Zhou Zimei, Li Yuzhen, Wan Yunjun, Shi Cunzhi, Lin Xianglin, Wang Zhiliang and other well-known scholars have taught here.
At the same time, the department of Chinese of East China Normal University has also emerged a "group of writers of East China Normal University" represented by famous writers such as Dai Houying, Wang Xiaoyu, Zhao Lihong, Wang Xiaoying, Sun Yong, Chen Danyan, Song Lin, Ge Fei, Li Er, and Mao Jian. Since 2000, a number of writers of the new generation, such as Xu Jia, Su De, Lin Yao, Liu Tao, Ge Shengjie, Xiao Di, and so on, have formed a unique phenomenon of "New Generation Writers group of East China Normal University".
In order to carry forward the literary creation characteristics of the Department of Chinese of East China Normal University and commemorate the 70th anniversary of the school and the department, the China Creative Writing Research Institute of East China Normal University plans to officially establish the East China Normal University-Focus Media "Future Writers" Award in June this year. As an upgraded version of the original "Future Internet Writers" competition, the event aims to select many of the most promising future writers, including online literature.
The "Future Writers" Award is about to start, and the "Shanghai Writing" studio led by Sun Ganlu, president of the China Creative Writing Research Institute, was selected for the 2021 Shanghai High-level Cultural and Artistic Talent Studio Project. On June 7th, the opening ceremony of "Sun Ganlu Famous Teacher Studio" and the launching ceremony of the "Future Writer" Award of East China Normal University-Focus Media were held in East China Normal University. Qian Xuhong, president of East China Normal University, Li Jingze, vice chairman of the China Writers Association and secretary of the Secretariat, Ma Wenyun, full-time vice chairman of the Shanghai Writers Association, Ji Hairong, director of Focus Media, Wen Guiliang, head of the department of Chinese of East China Normal University, and Sun Ganlu, dean of the China Creative Writing Research Institute of East China Normal University, delivered speeches.
Huang Ping, Vice President of China Academy of Creative Writing, introduced the preparations for the "Sun Ganlu Famous Teacher Studio" and the East China Normal University-Focus Media "Future Writers" Award. This year's selection is limited to novels, and the writers are under the age of 40 (born after January 1, 1981), including online writers. Participating writers are required to have physical books (long stories or collections of short and medium stories) published, and online writers are required to have physical books published or have completed serialization of the main body of representative works on relevant websites, and the publication time is limited to January 1, 2021.
It is reported that the "Future Writers" Award sets the nomination selection and formal review link, and the formal review link includes the "long list" review and the "short list" review. The "long list" selects ten writers, the "short list" then selects five writers, and finally selects two grand prize winners (including one online literature writer) to share the 100,000 prize money.
Sun Ganlu, dean of the China Creative Writing Institute at East China Normal University, will serve as the convener of the jury of the "Future Writers" Award. He said that the "Future Writers" award has been upgraded this year to try to observe, select and launch outstanding young writers in a wider range of fields. The studio will follow the requirements of the project, not only serve the education of colleges and universities, support the development of disciplines, but also serve the practice of culture and art, focusing on the specific requirements of "Shanghai Writing", with the joint efforts of all teachers and students of the China Creative Writing Research Institute of East China Normal University, learning the experience and achievements of creative writing in sister universities, and making positive efforts to explore the development path of creative writing suitable for China's local reality.
(Originally published in The Paper)