HarperCollins Acquires North-American Rights to Novel by Nobel Winner Gao Xingjian

Posted on October 19, 2000

HarperCollins Publishers has announced that it has purchased the North American rights to Soul Mountain, a novel by Chinese writer Gao Xingjian, winner of the 2000 Nobel Prize for Literature. The two-book contract, negotiated with agent Georges Borchardt, also includes a second novel, One Man's Bible. Soul Mountain, first published in English by HarperCollins Australia, will be published in the U.S. in January 2001. Terry Karten, HarperCollins Vice President and Executive Editor, will serve as Gao's editor.

``I am delighted that we have purchased rights to these two important books by such a highly acclaimed author,'' said Jane Friedman, President and CEO of HarperCollins Publishers. ``HarperCollins Australia published Soul Mountain earlier this year to great success. This acquisition further strengthens HarperCollins' position as a global publishing company. We look forward to bringing these books to the U.S. and Canada.''

Born and educated in China, Gao Xingjian studied French literature at the Beijing Foreign Languages Institute between 1957 and 1962. After the Cultural Revolution, he became a resident playwright at the Beijing People's Art Theatre. In 1987 he settled in Paris, where he now lives. He writes in both Chinese and French. In 1992 he was awarded the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government.