Culture writer Yu Qiuyu at the launch of his first novel in Beijing last week. Zou Hong/China Daily

Culture writer Yu Qiuyu is enjoying a treat he hasn't experienced for a while: He was in the limelight for his writing.

Last week, he was surrounded by journalists and readers. His publisher, Beijing Motie Book Co, hosted the event to announce Yu's first novel, Bing He, or Icy River.

However, Yu, 68, denied that he wrote the novel only recently.

"I've been writing all kinds of essays and plays for more than 40 years, and have had many experiences in academic research, public speaking, education and writing," Yu says.

"It is not like I suddenly want to write a novel when I get old. My life is colorful and I have never ceased the practice of writing in the past decades."

Yu has been largely out of the public eye since 2008, when the well-known writer was accused of not fulfilling his donation promise to earthquake victims. At the press event last week he emphasized he had been living under "wrong" media reports in recent years, and at a separate lecture, Yu said the accusation was a "slander".

Yu rose to fame in the 1990s through publishing best-selling, information-dense travelogue-style books, and later became an authority on cultural subjects.

He is also a prominent scholar on theatrical art. His wife, Ma Lan, is a traditional Chinese Huangmei opera artist, and her signature repertoire includes The Emperor's Female Son-in-Law (Nyu Fuma).

The novel, released by China's largest private publishing company, is set in ancient times, and centers on a young, beautiful and talented woman, Meng He, who leaves home to look for her biological father, but chances to win the highest Imperial examinations.