“The Home of a Spare Child” is a Chinese article I wrote for Paper Republic on the topic of home, translated in English by the amazing Julius Kochan (you can read the full piece here).

In this video, Julius reads an excerpt in English and I read the same one from the original Chinese text 😊

Born in Shandong in 1986, Shen Yang belongs to the millions of “invisible children” who violated the One-Child Policy and were forced to live in the shadows of the Chinese society. Her book More Than One Child: Memoir of an Illegal Daughter, which was translated by Nicky Harman and published by Balestier Press in 2021, provides a vivid account of the family planning era in China, as she writes down her journey towards overcoming the limits of her upbringing and forging her own identity amidst the difficulties of her childhood.

Shen Yang’s memoir More Than One Child tenderly unfolds an intimate and profoundly touching narrative that delves into the struggles of being an “excess child” (known as 黑孩子 hēi háizi “black child” in Mandarin) during the reign of China’s stringent One-Child Policy.

Book review from Nyla Daud (@daudnyla), Pakistani freelance journalist, translator and creative content/report writer who has taught in the LUMS Lifetime Learning programme.

While I was in Finland this October to promote the Finnish version of More Than One Child, I had the great honor and pleasure to be invited to Efter Nio, a popular Finnish talk show in Swedish, to share my experience as excess born child. A huge thank you to the amazing hosts Sonja Kailassaari and Janne Grönroos 💕

The author Shen Yang will visit Finland in connection with the Finnish publication of his book More Than One Child (Into 2023). The Finland-China Society organizes two events in cooperation with the universities of Turku and Helsinki, where the author Shen Yang and the translator Rauno Sainio discuss the book and its translation work from China into Finnish.

“More Than One Child” has been published in Arabic language by Al Arabi Publishing, and featured among their special titles at the Abu Dhabi Book Fair.

“More Than One Child” has been translated into Finnish by veteran translator Rauno Sainio (who “finnished” works from Yu Hua, Sanmao and many other famous Chinese authors), and will be published by the renowned Into Kunstannus Oy in September 2023.

GZERO Media asked Shen Yang to share her personal experience during the Shanghai lockdown in a lively video interview.

“More Than One Child” was featured in “Il Foglio”, one of the main national newspapers in Italy, with a lively article by writer, musician and filmmaker Vittorio Bongiorno.

PEN Transmissions is English PEN’s magazine for international and translated voices. In this article Shen Yang speaks to Nicky Harman about the One Child policy, “excess-birth daughters”, and her memoir, “More Than One Child”.

Book review from fellow author Karin K. Jensen, author of the upcoming memoir: “My Name is King Ying: One Girl’s Transpacific Quest of Resilience, Survival, and New World Dreams”.

More Than One Child receives another authoritative review, this time by Rosie Milne on Asian Review of Books.

On December 1st 2021, the Leeds Centre for New Chinese Writing invited Shen Yang and Nicky Harman to discuss about “More Than One Child”. The talk will cover the background of the book, the experiences of ‘excess children’ in China during the years of the One-Child Policy, and the process and challenges of translation.

In this short article for Asian Books Blog, Nicky Harman reflects on the unexpected impact of “More Than One Child” on both western and Chinese readers and some of their reactions to the story.

A chilling excerpt from “More Than One Child” has been featured on the blog of NüVoices, an international editorial collective celebrating the diverse creative work of women.

ICYMI: On 14 August 2021, Balestier Press hosted a fascinating book club event to discuss “More Than One Child”, featuring the author Shen Yang, translator Nicky Harman and prolific writer Xinran Xue. Here you can see the main highlights of the event.

Angus Stewart from The Translated China Fiction Podcast (TrChFic) interviews Shen Yang and Nicky Harman over “More Than One Child”. A lovely episode where we talk about how the book came to be and share many interesting details about the story.

More Than One Child received its very first review! Big thank you to Michelle Deeter from the Leeds Centre for New Chinese Writing for the glowing review.