Rome poetry festival to mark chapter of success

"We translate top writers and scholars, whose work conveys the regional characteristics of Jiangsu, as well as those of literature and thought in contemporary China," Yuan says.

So far, the PPMG has released 22 overseas editions of 14 titles by 12 authors in seven languages, including English, Spanish, Russian, Thai and Vietnamese, that are targeted at 12 markets such as the UK, the US, Canada, Switzerland, France and Belgium.

The translations include Another Life for Women and Three Lamps by Su Tong, Nanjing: The Story of a Chinese City by Ye Zhaoyan, The Straw House by Cao Wenxuan, The Dao of Calligraphy by Sun Xiaoyun. They have sold more than 6,000 copies.

"By 2025, we will finish publishing another eight novels and academic books, including the Thai and Indonesian translations of Massage by Bi Feiyu, the English and Spanish translations of the poetry collection Ding Fengbo (Taming the Storm) by Hu Xian, and English translations of Outline of China's Path to Modernization by Hong Yinxing. We will promote these books in overseas markets in cooperation with our partners," she says.

To guarantee the quality of the translations, the group has been building an expert pool of translators that now includes 120 translators from Britain, the US, France, Spain, Japan, South Korea and Sweden, many of whom are Sinologists and past winners of the Special Book Award of China, the country's top publication prize honoring foreign translators, writers and publishers.

Yuan says that even if the books are translated and published overseas, it does not mean that they truly reach overseas readers and exert an influence, which is something they are still exploring.