In June, Grupo Planeta, the largest publishing group in Spanish-speaking countries, published Decoded, a novel by Mai Jia, known as the Dan Brown of China. The book had a first print volume of 30,000 copies - a record for a Chinese novel published abroad. It is the first contemporary Chinese fiction published by Penguin Classics, which released an English version in March in 21 countries.

Penguin Australia, in association with Penguin China, has acquired world rights - excluding traditional and simplified Chinese - of Man Booker nominated author Wang Anyi's novel Scent of Heaven and plans to publish it later this year. The publishing giant's list of Chinese authors for 2014 also includes Bi Feiyu and Mo Yan, the Nobel Laureate in literature.

China International Press, a government-financed publishing house devoted to the promotion of Chinese culture and literature in the rest of the world, has exported more than 70 copyrights of Chinese books to the Arab countries in recent years. Established writer Liu Zhenyun's books, I'm Not Pan Jinlia, and Cellphone, are due to be published in the Arab countries later this year.

Sino-Culture Press, under China Publishing Group, has reached a deal with Arab Publishers' Association to co-publish Arabic versions of Peaceful Soul, 21 Building and View of the Lake and Hill by Mao Dun Literature Laureate Zhou Daxin.

People's Literature Publishing House has reached a deal with New York Review of Books and French publisher Hachette Publishing to publish English and French versions of Invisible Cloak, which won writer Ge Fei the 2014 Lu Xun Literature Prize for best novella. The Chinese-to-English translator Canaan Morse won the Susan Sontag Prize for his translation of the book.

- Liu Zhihua

(China Daily 09/03/2014 page19)