Cao Wenxuan facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Cao Wenxuan
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Cao Wenxuan in 2020
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| Native name |
曹文轩
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| Born | January 1954 (age 71) Yancheng, Jiangsu, China |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Language | Chinese |
| Alma mater | Peking University |
| Period | 1983–present |
| Genre | Children's literature |
| Notable works | The Grass House Bronze and Sunflower |
| Notable awards | 19th Golden Rooster Award for Best Writing 1999 The Grass House Huabiao Award 1998 The Grass House 14th Tehran International Film Festival - the Golden Butterfly Prize |
Cao Wenxuan (simplified Chinese: 曹文轩; traditional Chinese: 曹文軒; pinyin: Cáo Wénxuān; born in January 1954) is a famous Chinese writer. He is especially known for his amazing books for children. Cao Wenxuan is also a professor at Peking University. Many of his novels have been translated into different languages, like English, French, German, and Japanese. This means kids all over the world can enjoy his stories!
Contents
About Cao Wenxuan
Cao Wenxuan was born in 1954 in a place called Yancheng, in Jiangsu province, China. He started studying at Peking University in 1974. By 1983, he began publishing his first novels. He has been writing ever since!
Hans Christian Andersen Award
In April 2016, Cao Wenxuan won the very special Hans Christian Andersen Award. This award is like the Nobel Prize for children's literature! He was the first Chinese author ever to receive it.
The judges who gave him the award said that Cao Wenxuan "writes beautifully about the complex lives of children." They noted that his stories show kids facing big challenges. They also mentioned that his own childhood, which was difficult, really influenced his writing. His books don't offer easy answers, but they make you think.
He received this important award in Auckland, New Zealand, on August 20, 2016. His acceptance speech was called "Literature: Another Form of Housebuilding."
Dingding and Dangdang Series
One of Cao Wenxuan's notable works is the Dingding and Dangdang series, published in 2012. These books tell the story of two brothers who have Down syndrome. They live in a small village in rural China. The series was recognized as one of IBBY’s Outstanding Books for Young People with Disabilities in 2015. This shows how important and touching his stories are.
Cao Wenxuan's Books
Cao Wenxuan has written many different types of books. He writes novels, shorter stories called novellas, and even picture books for younger children.
Novels by Cao Wenxuan
- 1985 The Old Walls (Chinese: 古老的围墙)
- 1991 Goats Do Not Eat Heaven Grass (Chinese: 山羊不吃天堂草)
- 1997 The Grass House (Chinese: 草房子)
- 1999 The Bird (Chinese: 根鸟)
- 2000 The Red Tile Roof (Chinese: 红瓦房)
- 2005 Red Tile, Black Tile (Chinese: 红瓦黑瓦)
- 2005 The Thin Rice (Chinese: 细米)
- 2005 Bronze and Sunflower (Chinese: 青铜葵花)
- 2005 The Gourd Ladle (Chinese: 天瓢)
- 2008 Dawang Tome: The Amber Tiles (Chinese: 大王书：黄琉璃)
- 2008 Dawang Tome: The Red Lantern (Chinese: 大王书：红纱灯)
- 2012 Dingding and Dangdang (Chinese: 丁丁当当，黑痴白痴) (Illustrated by Zhenjun Liu)
- 2014 A Cool Bird Wawa
- 2015 Firebrand (Chinese: 火印)
- 2016 Dragonfly Eyes (Chinese: 蜻蜓眼)
- 2019 Caoxiewan Road (Chinese: 草鞋湾)
Novellas (Shorter Novels)
- 1983 A Cattle without Horns (Chinese: 没有角的牛)
- 1988 A Small House Buried in The Snow (Chinese: 埋在雪下的小屋)
- 1988 The Evening Has Come Down Upon The Ancestral Temple (Chinese: 暮色笼罩的祠堂)
Short Stories
- 1986 Mist Covered The Old Castle (Chinese: 云雾中的古堡)
- 1986 The Dumb Cattle (Chinese: 哑牛)
- 1989 The Blue Countryside (Chinese: 忧郁的田园)
- 1992 The Green Fence (Chinese: 绿色的栅栏)
- 1994 A City under The Water (Chinese: 水下有座城)
- 1994 The Red Calabash (Chinese: 红葫芦)
- 1996 The Rose Valley (Chinese: 蔷薇谷)
- 1997 Sanjiaodi (Chinese: 三角地)
- 2005 The Windmill (Chinese: 野风车)
- 2008 Gouyayu (Chinese: 狗牙雨)
- 2008 A Very Special Pigeon (Chinese: 一只叫凤的鸽子)
Picture Books for Children
- Summer in a Cotton Padded Jacket (Chinese: 穿棉袄的夏天)
- Feather (Chinese: 羽毛), illustrated by Roger Mello
- Chrysanthemum Doll (Chinese: 菊花娃娃)
- Last Leopard (Chinese: 最后一只豹子)
- A Big Fish Swims East (Chinese: 一条大鱼向东游)
- Crazy Rooster (Chinese: 痴鸡)
- Bird Boat (Chinese: 鸟船)
- Flying Bird Nest (Chinese: 飞翔的鸟窝)
- Summer (translated by Yan Ding, illustrated by Yu Rong)
- Smoke (translated by Duncan Poupard, illustrated by Yu Rong)
Essays
- Crows (Chinese: 乌鸦)
Awards and Recognitions
Cao Wenxuan has won many important awards for his writing:
- He won the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2016.
- His book Goats Do Not Eat Heaven Grass (Chinese: 山羊不吃天堂草) received the 3rd Soong Ching-ling Children's Literature Prize.
- The Grass House (Chinese: 草房子) won several awards, including the Bingxin Literature Prize and the Golden Rooster Award for Best Writing in 1999. It also won the Golden Butterfly Prize at the 14th Tehran International Film Festival.
- Bronze and Sunflower (Chinese: 青铜葵花) also won the Bingxin Literature Prize. Its English translation was recognized as a New York Times Notable Children's Book in 2017. The translator, Helen Wang, won the 2017 Marsh Award for Children's Literature in Translation for this book.
- Dingding and Dangdang (Chinese: 丁丁当当) was chosen as one of the 2015 IBBY Outstanding Books for Young People with Disabilities.
Book to Film Adaptations
Some of Cao Wenxuan's wonderful stories have been made into movies!
- The Grass House (Chinese: 草房子) was turned into a film directed by Xu Geng.
- Two more of his books, Bronze and Sunflower and Firebrand, are also being made into movies.
