Olivia Wu in the San Francisco Chronicle:
When Fan Wu was feverishly tapping out her first novel in San Jose four years ago, she did not imagine she would star in the launch of a major publishing house. At the 13th Annual Beijing Book Fair, Macmillan Press announced the formation of Picador Asia, its newest imprint dedicated to the Asia Pacific region — the only Asian list created by a mainstream English language publisher — and brought out its first book, “February Flowers,” by Chinese-born Wu. Wu (no relation to this reporter) wrote the novel in English partly to challenge herself in her second language.
Publishers from around the world arrived at the book fair, one of the major publishing events in China, earlier this month to search for, develop and publish Chinese writers. Major houses, such as Penguin and HarperCollins, continued to press forward with translations of English classics into Chinese and emphasis on children’s books. More than 4,000 local and international publishers turned up.
Many consider the greatest loophole in Chinese-English publishing efforts to be contemporary Chinese voices in English.
More here.