July 30th, 2014 by Asia Society
Xiaolu Guo (R), author of “I Am China” (Doubleday, 2014). (Author photo: http://www.guoxiaolu.com)
A love story for our time, Xiaolu Guo’s new novel I Am China: A Novel (Doubleday, 2014) has been praised as “a multilayered exploration of politics and culture across three continents” by Isabel Hilton in The Guardian. Weaving between China and England, the novel also tunnels through the history of the emerging superpower via the letters and diaries of an exiled Chinese underground rock musician as they are being rendered into English by a London-based translator.
Named one of Granta’s Best Young British Novelists in 2013, Guo published six books in her native China before relocating to London in 2003. An accomplished filmmaker in addition to being a novelist, she has had work screened at the Venice and Toronto film festivals.
In September, Guo will share I Am China with Asia Society audiences in two American cities. She visits Asia Society Texas on Wednesday, September 3, and on Wednesday, September 10 will present the book in New York City along with clips from her most recent documentary, Once Upon a Time Proletarian, as well as her feature film UFO in Her Eyes. Each program will be followed by a book sale and signing.
Following is an excerpt from I Am China — a letter from Jian, the exiled rock musician, to his lover Mu.