Two writers in Nantong, East China's Jiangsu province, recently won the eighth Lu Xun Literature Prize, local media reported on Aug 26.

He Ping won the literary criticism award for his book An Encore of Criticism.

An Encore of Criticism by He Ping. [Photo/Nantong Daily]

Released in 2021, the book investigates and portrays a map of contemporary literature in China, discovers new writers, and discusses cutting-edge literary issues, including endemicity and world literature, media reform, and the influence of AI on literature.

He is a professor at the College of Literature of Nanjing Normal University and the chief expert of major national social science projects. He mainly engages in research on modern and contemporary Chinese literature and the criticism of contemporary Chinese literature and art.

Chinese version of the Arabic poem collection Index of the Acts of the Wind. [Photo/Nantong Daily]

Another Nantong native Xue Qinguo won the literature translation award for translating Index of the Acts of the Wind by Arabic-language poet Adonis. The book is a collection of poems about rain, sky, rose, dust, and human beings.

After reading Adonis' works 30 years ago, Xue started translating his poems, which have been well received by Chinese readers and have been reprinted more than 30 times.

Xue is a professor at the Arabic College of Beijing Foreign Studies University and deputy chairman of the Chinese Arabic Literature Research Society. He specializes in the research and translation of modern Arabic literature and culture.

Founded in 1997, the Lu Xun Literature Prize is sponsored by the China Writers Association and is one of the most prestigious national literature prizes in China.

Held every four years, the eighth edition featured seven awards for literature works published from 2018 to 2021, each having no more than five winners.