Special Event: “Writing China in Silicon Valley, A Dialogue between Chen Qian (award-winning female writer based in Silicon Valley) and Wang Kan (visi

Special Event: “Writing China in Silicon Valley, A Dialogue between Chen Qian (award-winning female writer based in Silicon Valley) and Wang Kan (visiting scholar and professor of literature from Zhejiang), followed by discussion

Time: Saturday 2:30-4:00, May 28, 2011
Place: Nairobi Room, Graduate Community Center (2nd Floor),
750 Escondido Road, Stanford.
Working Language: Chinese
Soft Drinks and Light Refreshments will be served.

Introduction:

Qian Chen grew up in Nanning, China and came to the United States in 1989, where she received a MS degree in Computer Engineering at the University of Idaho, and worked as a logic design engineer until early 2008. During her engineering career, Chen’s stories and essays have been published in People’s Literature, Harvest and other publications in China and abroad. Her first novel, Xia Ju, was published in 2002. Her novella, Listen to the Caged Bird Sing, received the People’s Literature Award, one of the most prestigious literature awards in China, and her novella Teresa’s Rogue received the Yu Da Fu Fiction Prize, and was nominated for the Lu Xun Literature Award, and the National Literature Award of China.
Wang Kan received his Ph.D. from Nanjing University, and is now Professor of contemporary Chinese Literature in Hangzhou Normal University. He specializes in modern Chinese literary thoughts. He is author of five books, including Narratives and Rhetoric (2010), History, Language and Desire (2008), and others.

This dialogue and discussion will include, but not limited to, the following questions: How did Chen Qian manage to reinvent herself from a computer engineer into an award-winning novelist? What is the path that one can take to become a successful writer in China? How to write about China in the U.S.? How is overseas Chinese literature read in Mainland China? How do insiders of the Chinese literature circle understand the contemporary Chinese literary production and the future of Chinese literature?

在硅谷写作中国：关于中国当代文学的对话

陈谦，女，自幼生长于广西南宁，毕业于广西大学。1989年春赴美国留学，获爱达荷大学电机工程硕士学位。曾长期供职于芯片设计业。著有长篇小说《爱在无爱的硅谷》及中篇小说《望断南飞雁》、《特蕾莎的流氓犯》、《覆水》、《残雪》及《何以言爱》等。其中《特蕾莎的流氓犯》入选2008年中国小说排行榜并获首届郁达夫小说奖，及鲁迅文学奖提名。陈谦现居美国硅谷。
王侃，博士，教授，现任职于中国杭州师范大学中文系，从事中国现当代文学思潮研究。代表著作有：《诗与思的维度》（1999）、《感受梦幻》（2000）、《“浙江潮”与中国新文学》（2004）、《历史·语言·欲望》（2008）、《叙事门与修辞术》（2010）。

该对话及讨论将围绕以下问题展开：首先，陈谦将回顾其个人经历，并讲述她如何从一名硅谷电脑工程师转型成为知名作家。其二，我们将探讨文学爱好者如何能在国内文坛获得成功的途径。其三，在美国居住的华人作家如何来写作并展现中国？他们有怎样的独特视角，又有什么困惑？其四，国内文学界又怎样来看待海外的华语文学和中国写作？最后，中国文学的圈内人又如何来看待当前中国的文学创作以及中国文学的未来？