Back to 80: My literary life.

Chapter 593 Grand Prize Announced

Xijing People's Theater is located on Beida Street near the Bell Tower. It is a perfect example of integrating traditional Chinese architectural art with Western elegant architectural style. It is also a landmark building in XA City and a cultural symbol of this city.

Tonight, the People's Theater was packed with 13 jury members. In addition, Palladium, the honorary chairman of the jury, came all the way from Shanghai to congratulate the award-winning writers. In addition, relevant leaders from the Qin Province cultural circle and some members of the Writers Association Council also invited famous writers from Gansu Province, Ningxia Province and other provinces to attend the meeting. For a time, the literary world was full of shining stars.

Of course, the most eye-catching here are the 23 writers whose works were shortlisted. Some of them were chatting and laughing with friends sitting around them, while others were being interviewed by reporters.

For example, Yu Hua, one of the youngest writers shortlisted this time, was interviewed by a CCTV reporter.

"Comrade Yu Hua, as one of the youngest writers shortlisted this time, what do you think?"

At this time, Yu Hua did not have the relaxed attitude of facing the media's laughter and scolding in later generations, and seemed a little nervous:

"I am very excited at the moment. I feel very honored that my novel has been shortlisted for the first Chinese Literature Award. Of course, compared with other outstanding writers, I still have a long way to go. I am here mainly to learn."

"Excuse me, how did you get into literature?"

"Because I have loved literature since I was a child, after failing the college entrance examination, I became a dentist in our town, but I did not give up my dream and used my spare time to read and write."

Fang Minghua was sitting nearby and heard it.

Shit, is what this guy said true or false?
Didn’t you say that you don’t want to go to work, want to slack off, and that all the royalties you earn from writing novels are your own?

Duplicity.

Forget it, I won’t expose you.

At eight o'clock sharp, the ceremony officially began.

After a round of speeches by leaders and guests, the first award to be presented was the Best Novel Award.

The host first briefly described the contents of the five candidate works, including the judges' comments.

Yu Hua was sitting next to Fang Minghua, and it was obvious that he was a little nervous.

Shi Tiesheng sat on the other side of Yu Hua, next to him was his wife Chen Ximi, and there was a wheelchair in the aisle next to him.

Seeing Yu Hua like this, he whispered, "Yu Hua, I heard that your novel is very likely to win an award."

Yu Hua shook his head: "Impossible, it's good enough to be shortlisted."

"So which novel do you think will win the prize?"

“I personally think it should be Liu Sifen’s “White Gate Willow”.”

"Oh"

Fang Minghua heard their conversation from the side, but didn't say anything.

As the organizer of the competition, he certainly knows the final results.

The best novel is "White Gate Willow"!
Sure enough, the award presenter Wang Meng read out, "The winner of the first World Chinese Literature Award for Best Novel is Liu Sifen's "White Gate Willow"!"

There was warm applause in the meeting hall.

Liu Sifen, who is over 50 years old, also wore a suit and tie today. He went up to the podium, took the trophy and certificate from Wang Meng, and gave his acceptance speech to the audience in their not-so-standard Mandarin.

Fang Minghua listened quietly below.

Although he already knew the result, he felt a surge of emotion when he saw Liu Sifen standing on the podium with an excited look on his face.

Five years later, this work won the Mao Dun Literature Prize again.

Although the brilliance of other novels that won the Mao Dun Prize this year was overshadowed by Chen Zhongshi's "White Deer Plain", this historical novel is well written.

The Best Novella Award and Best Short Story Award were then won by Liu Zhenyun's "A Pile of Feathers" and Butler's "Fragrant Mountains" respectively.

"Fragrant Flowers in the Strange Mountains" is a translated work written by a foreign writer!

The full text of this novel has been published in the editor's recommendation column of "Yanhe", and has received rave reviews from the domestic literary circles and readers.

This award was well-deserved.

Butler walked onto the podium in a dark suit and bow tie, looking excited.

Fang Minghua was also very happy at this time. Finally, a winning work was written by a foreigner. If all the works were written by Chinese, it would be too boring. The next award was the Best Prose Award.

Soon, the guests read out the title of the winning work: "I and the Altar of Earth" by Shi Tiesheng!
There was warm applause in the auditorium.

"Congratulations!"

"Congratulations, Tiesheng!"

There was an immediate burst of congratulations from all around.

Shi Tiesheng appeared calm. He sat in a wheelchair and was pushed slowly towards the podium by Chen Ximi. Finally, he was helped onto the stage by the staff.

Shi Tiesheng gave a speech accepting the award and talked about literature.

“Literary innovation is necessary, but literature must also have something eternal. Why do people still need to engage in literature after they have enough food and clothing? I guess it is because the endless life creates endless problems for us, and the endless problems give us endless thinking and the power of thinking.

“Once people lack the power of thinking, they will inevitably be defeated by computers one day. Compared with the previous generation of writers, our generation is still competitive.”

The last award is for Best Poetry Collection.

Since famous domestic poets Bei Dao and Gu Cheng did not return to China to attend the ceremony for various reasons, this award ceremony was a bit regrettable for poetry lovers.

Fortunately, two famous poets were present.

One is the 64-year-old Taiwanese poet Luo Fu, the oldest among the shortlisted writers, and the other is Haizi, the youngest among the shortlisted writers this year.

It was a bit surprising to see that both the biggest and the smallest appeared in the poetry group.

Soon, the award presenter announced the best poetry collection award for this year's literature award: "Selected Short and Medium-Length Poems of Haizi"!
Haizi stood up and appeared in everyone's sight.

Compared with young poets such as Bei Dao and Gu Cheng, Haizi became famous relatively late, and especially in recent years, we have rarely heard news about him.

Some say that he, like other poets, has gone abroad.

Some said he had committed suicide.

Some people also said that he had gone crazy and was put in a mental hospital.

Today Haizi stood on the podium, facing the camera, and many readers in front of the TV were looking at him.

Peaceful, with a smile on his face.

"I am very happy today, standing on this stage and accepting the trophy and certificate awarded by Mr. Yu." Haizi said his acceptance speech into the microphone.

"First of all, I would like to thank the jury members and the organizing committee staff for their hard work. At the same time, I am even more grateful to Minghua, Xichuan, Yihe and other friends for pulling me back from the brink of death, because I wanted to be Van Gogh at that time."

The guests in the audience immediately started talking about it.

Van Gogh committed suicide!
He shot himself due to mental problems.

It seems that some rumors in the poetry world are true.

"I am alive and well now, but unfortunately, our Yenching University poet and my friend Ge Mai committed suicide on September 1991 last year (9)."

Gome is dead?!
Fang Minghua suddenly remembered this person in the poetry world.

Compared with Haizi, Ge Mai is not familiar.

Historically, after Haizi's death, his poetry became popular and he gradually became known to later generations, but Ge Mai remained unknown.

Haizi on the stage continued to speak about his evaluation of Ge Mai, seemingly forgetting that this was his acceptance speech.

"His works all give me a sense of déjà vu: hardness, stubbornness, sadness, love. I have always believed that Ge Mai is one of the best poets I have ever met. I envy his unparalleled talent and even more his clear life. So today, at this time, I would like to take this opportunity to mourn my late friend, Ge Mai."

After saying this, Haizi bowed and walked down from the podium.

This time, there was no applause from the audience.

Afterwards, Haizi found Fang Minghua and said, "Minghua, I want you to help publish a collection of Ge Mai's poems, is that okay?"

"Okay." Fang Minghua said.

(End of this chapter)