Back to 80: My literary life.

Chapter 818 Invited to give a lecture at Lanzhou University

"Chairman Zhang (Zhang Ping's official title is now Vice Chairman of the Shanxi Federation of Literary and Art Circles), are you used to this kind of food?"

Fang Minghua took the initiative to talk.

"I'm used to it. The food in Lanzhou is similar to that in Taiyuan, except that there's less vinegar." Zhang Ping said.

"Shanxi people love to be jealous, no one can compare to you."

They both laughed.

"Chairman Zhang, Shengshi Film and Television originally wanted to buy the rights to adapt your novel into a TV series, but CCTV got there first. What a pity," Fang Minghua said.

What he said was true. After the successful TV series In the Name of People, Shengshi Film and Television did take a fancy to This Block Selection. As a result, Zhang Ping had already signed a contract with CCTV to purchase the adaptation rights. The other party quickly made it into a TV series and found veteran actors such as Li Xuejian, Zhao Kuie, and Li Youbin to play roles in it.

But what made Fang Minghua complain was that the TV series was only filmed for 17 episodes, which was really too rough.

Hearing Fang Minghua say this, Zhang Ping was very happy. Although his novel was the least favored among the shortlisted works, the fact that a famous film and television company was vying to film it also showed that he had great strength.

"Chairman Zhang, please contact us in advance if you have any similar novels in the future," Fang Minghua said again.

Zhang Ping naturally knew that Fang Minghua’s lover was the CEO of Shengshi Film and Television, the largest film and television company in the country. His words actually represented the attitude of Shengshi Film and Television.

He immediately said, “Okay, no problem.”

The 5th World Chinese Literature Award was held on the evening of May 19 at Lanzhou People's Theater. The theater with a capacity of people was packed.

In addition to the shortlisted authors, award presenters and judges, famous figures in Gansu's literary and art circles were also invited to attend the award ceremony.

What was even more eye-opening was that this time, famous domestic singers such as Jiang Dawei and Yin Xiumei were invited to perform on stage, which added to the atmosphere of the party.

"Spicy Girl", "Peony Song", "I Love You, Snow in the Northern Frontier".
Although these songs are not popular in the past two years, they are solemn and majestic and very suitable for this occasion.

Of course, what everyone is most concerned about is the award results.

Best Poetry Award, Best Prose Award, Best Short Story Award
As the awards were announced one by one, the theater erupted in warm applause.

The last award was for Best Novel.

This is the highlight of the entire award ceremony!
Some people joked that as long as one won the World Chinese Literature Award for Best Novel, the Mao Dun Prize would definitely be in his grasp.

Indeed, among the three Chinese literature awards that have been held, except for the third Best Novel Award which was won by a South African writer, the other two best awards were won by Mao Dun Literature Prize winners!
Amidst warm applause, Fang Minghua appeared on the stage as the award presenter, wearing a black suit, a white shirt and tie, with a bouquet of flowers on his chest.

The hosts are CCTV Gansu Province host Shui Junyi and Gansu TV host Mou Jie.

After a brief greeting, Fang Minghua took the award envelope from Shui Junyi. In front of the host, he carefully opened it and took out the letter.

At this moment, the whole place was silent.

Fang Minghua was stunned for a moment after opening the letter, but quickly read out the result: "The winner of the Best Novel Award at the 4th World Chinese Literature Award is "Choice"! Please welcome the author, Mr. Zhang Ping!"

The venue immediately burst into warm applause.

Zhang Ping, who was sitting in the audience, was a little confused.

It turned out that I was the winner?

impossible!
"Chairman Zhang, congratulations!" said Han Shaogong, who was sitting next to him.

"Congratulations, Chairman Zhang."

"Congratulations."

Surrounded by the authors of the shortlisted works, I congratulated them in a very graceful manner.

At this time, Zhang Ping woke up from his dream, straightened his clothes, and hurried to the stage. Fang Minghua handed the award certificate and medal to him, and the two shook hands.

"congratulations."

I sighed in my heart.

This prophecy has not been broken yet.

"The Song of Everlasting Sorrow" did not win the award, but "The Choice" did!

This is also a Mao Dun Literature Prize-winning work.

Zhang Ping was very excited.
As is customary, he gave a speech accepting the award.

"I am very happy and uneasy about the award for "Choice". I always feel that my works are far from those of many contemporary writers, but I am just lucky. In recent years, I have used a close-up writing style to express life. Of course, such works that face reality directly always have artistic shortcomings. I insist on writing that faces reality directly, even if I pay the price of "quick decay", I will accept it, because society needs such works and society needs such writers."

There was warm applause in the meeting hall again.

The award ceremony concluded successfully and the winning works caused a lot of discussion, especially "Decision" which greatly exceeded some people's expectations.

But no matter what, he won the award!
The ceremony is over, but it doesn’t mean everyone can go home. It’s rare to have so many outstanding domestic writers gathered in Lanzhou.

Writers, both award-winning and shortlisted, have been invited by major universities in Lanzhou to give lectures and interact with teachers and students.

Zhang Ping was snatched away by Lanzhou University.

Wang Anyi went to Northwest Normal University.

Han Shaogong was invited by Lanzhou Jiaotong University.
Fang Minghua was also invited to give a lecture at Lanzhou University!

The inviter is Radar.

"Director Lei, the writers invited this time are all award-winning or shortlisted writers. Why should I join in the fun?" Fang Minghua asked.

"Have you forgotten that you promised to give lectures to my students at the final review meeting of the 4th Mao Dun Prize two years ago? Now that you are in Lanzhou, you haven't fulfilled your promise?" Lei Da said.

Oh, that's true.

Lei Da is currently also serving as a doctoral supervisor in the Department of Literature at Lanzhou University, majoring in modern and contemporary Chinese literature.

"I have already told our principal Zhang that the school has formally invited you and they will probably send someone over soon," Lei Da said.

Fang Minghua knew that when he went to Lanzhou University to give a lecture, the people he would be facing would definitely not be the doctoral students led by Radar.

He hesitated a little: "Zhang Ping has already been invited, it's not appropriate for me to go, right?"

"Who said we can only invite one writer? Besides, Zhang Ping mainly talked about his insights around "Choice", so how about you talk about the hot topic of "personalized writing"?" Lei Da said.

Personalized writing is a phenomenon that emerged in the literary world after the mid-90s. It is also a new way of writing. It is generally considered to be represented by the writings of female writers such as Chen Ran, Lin Bai, and Xu Xiaobin. Some people also call it new state literature, late generation literature, and personalized writing.

However, there is no unified definition of this writing style in the theoretical community, so controversies often arise.

When Radar said this, Fang Minghua had no choice but to agree.

"Then I have to prepare myself. I can't just go up and say something nonsense, right?"

"Okay, you can stay at our Lanzhou University Second Guesthouse. Although the conditions are not as good as this one, it is right inside the school. It is very convenient for you to go to the library or search for information online. How about that?"

"Okay." Fang Minghua agreed.

He told Bai Miao and moved to Lanzhou University’s Second Admissions Center that afternoon.

(End of this chapter)