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Simon & Schuster has partnered with China's Yilin Press to distribute its Mandarin language e-books globally.
The publisher described the deal an “unprecedented distribution and publishing agreement”.
The books, including Mandarin translations of both modern and classic works and many classic Chinese titles, will be available through all major e-book retailers working with Simon & Schuster.
A list of approximately 300 titles and notable translations—including Life of Pi by Yann Martel; Air Mail by Tomas Transtromer and Robert Bly; The Foxes Come At Night by Cees Nooteboom; and The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen—will be available from November.
In addition, the Simon & Schuster US trade imprint has acquired world English rights to a list of non-fiction titles about Chinese culture and history and popular and acclaimed fiction featuring major Chinese authors including Shen Congwen, Lu Xun, Bing Xin, Ye Zhaoyan and Su Tong, some of whom have never before been translated into English. It will publish the first list of eight titles in Spring 2014.
Carolyn Reidy, president and chief executive officer of Simon & Schuster US, said: “This is an exciting, modern marriage of content and technology that will benefit the many millions of Mandarin readers who live outside China and who will now have easy access to many of the best works of our time, from Chinese and western authors, in Mandarin."
Jonathan Karp, president and publisher of the Simon & Schuster US trade imprint, added: “With the increasing level of interest in Chinese language, literature,and culture in both the United States and around the world, we believe that the time is right to offer these classic works in electronic editions that will appeal to both the general reader and the educational market.”
Chen Haiyan, chairman of PPMG, said: “Yilin’s cooperation with Simon & Schuster is indeed an innovative project that provides PPMG with a model for the worldwide publishing and distribution of our books. We are eagerly looking forward to the day our books are available on a truly global basis.”
Simon & Schuster and Yilin Press are planning to mark the agreement with a celebratory signing ceremony tomorrow (9th October) at the Frankfurt Book Fair.