READ PAPER REPUBLIC, as some of you shortstop readers will know, is a project run by four of us on Paper-Republic.org, with the aim of raising the profile of contemporary Chinese literature. We’re publishing a short story (or essay or poem) every Thursday for a year, until June 2016, so that means we’re now at our half-way mark. Our aim has been to reach the general reader, to enable them to dip a toe in the water, so we have chosen as broad a range of stories as possible, something, we hope, to suit all tastes. You might like to read Chad Post’s review about us on his Three Percent blog on 11th December.

This week we’ve collaborated with Asymptote Journal and The Guardian newspaper: our story, “Venus”, by Taiwan’s queer writer Chen Xue, translated by Josh Stenberg, appeared simultaneously on Read Paper Republic and Asymptote (and, through Translation Tuesdays by Asymptote) in The Guardian newspaper). Asymptote have also run an interview with me about Read Paper Republic on their blog.

Our project is really gaining momentum, as more people hear about it. But don’t take my word for it. Go read the stories themselves, 27 now to choose from, free-to-view on https://paper-republic.org/pubs/read/. We’ve posted some great reads!