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Chi Zijian is the author of The Last Quarter of the Moon, which received the Mao Dun Literary Award, the highest honor for a novelist in China. She is also the only Chinese writer to have won the prestigious Lu Xun Literary Award three times for outstanding accomplishment in short fiction. Chi was born in Mohe, China, in 1964 and splits her time between there and the city of Harbin. Her other work includes Manchuria; A Clouded Light; White Snow, Black Raven, and others, and has been translated into many languages. Bruce Humes is the translator of The Last Quarter of the Moon by Chi Zijian, as well as the bestseller Shanghai Baby by Wei Hui and other works. He is an American literary translator and critic of Chinese literature, specializing in non-Han Chinese authors. Since 2009 he has published the blog Altaic Storytelling and is a regular contributor to the Chinese literature in translation website Paper Republic. Bruce speaks several languages and currently lives in Turkey.
Praise for The Last Quarter of the Moon “Chi has an extraordinary gift for storytelling and her steely narrator is a true heroine, surviving war and encroaching modernity. Simply magnificent.”—The Times (UK) “The Last Quarter of the Moon is about a life, and a lifestyle, as distant from ours as you can imagine; and entirely different from what English-readers might have come to expect of a Chinese novel. But the story is masterfully told, with simplicity and empathy, in a direct and credible voice that not only feels unlike a translation, but unlike a fiction at all.”—The Independent on Sunday “Chi Zijian's beautifully realised novel offers a detailed portrait of a way of life hard to imagine today... The natural beauty that surrounds the Evenki people is celebrated in lyrical prose while the harsher side of mountain life – disease, famine, hungry animals and sudden storms – is described in a matter-of-fact tone... Bruce Humes's skilful translation is pitch-perfect.”–The Independent “Chi Zijian's insight into the life of the Evenki tribe is truly remarkable. The reader not only learns much about a shamanistic culture and the rituals surrounding birth, marriage and death but also how to hunt bear and to live with the reindeer.”—The Book Trust Praise for the Seedbank Series “Milkweed’s Seedbank series is one of the most exciting and visionary projects in contemporary publishing. Taking the long view, these volumes run parallel to the much-hyped books of the moment to demonstrate the possibility and hope inherent in all great literature.”—Stephen Sparks, Point Reyes Books “Through its cultural-linguistic contribution to narrative diversity, Milkweed's Seedbank series is a vital tool in imagining the futures possible for humanity beyond the anthropocene. Bringing works from Greek, K'iche', German, Russian (and more!) whose authors are deeply rooted in their homelands, each voice encountered has resonated with me on a seemingly cellular level—shifting and changing both who I am and can be. I will continue to press these books into the hands of compassionate readers and cannot wait to share the forthcoming titles in the project!”—Erin Pineda, 27th Letter Books “Milkweed as a publishing house has long been championing literary works both fictitious and true to life centered around culture, nature, and environmentalism. The Seedbank series serves as both a marvelous introduction to the books Milkweed provides and as a collection of essential stories that ought to be on everyone's radar. The words behind these front covers highlight life-changing experiences, knowledge, and ways of life from communities that are seldom otherwise heard from in the publishing world through an authentic cultural lens. What I've read from the Seedbank line is phenomenal, and I look forward to spending time with future works in the series.”—Andrew King, Secret Garden Books
