Radical

When it comes to spinning light and shadow on the complexities of living, loving and language, Xiaolu Guo is one of the most valuable writers in the world * DEBORAH LEVY *An etymological voyage that lives up to its title: radical in angle of attack, smart and brave. Making the urban condition of restlessness and pain into poetry * IAIN SINCLAIR, author of The Gold Machine *A wild, passionate, gorgeous book, wandering the borders of language and desire; walking cities and remembering the ghosts of past landscapes. Xiaolu Guo’s books always open up new connections and curiosities for me. She is certainly among my favourite contemporary writers * AYSEGUL SAVAS, author of White on White *Xiaolu Guo is a writer like no other, and this is a memoir like no other * RANA MITTER, Professor of the History and Politics of Modern China, University of Oxford *Xiaolu Guo is a writer like no other, and this is a memoir like no other. Organised through a series of words that cut across languages, the book shows the divides and the connections that define a life lived between China, Europe and America, all explained with wit, lightness of touch and the occasional pinch of heartbreak * RANA MITTER *Guo’s writing is tender and raw, and she creates a passionate, intimate vocabulary, exploring the complexity of belonging, nostalgia, and love * Skinny *[A] marvellous new memoir… [an] intellectually rich and stimulating journey * Guardian *A collection of poetic thoughts of what it means to belong… she [Guo] writes beautifully * Spectator *This book is so radically alive to everything that I could have sworn I felt it pulsating in my hands. – Devorah BaumMore than a memoir, it is as much about the skilful exploration of language as it is about a woman stepping outside her world, taking risks in a new territory * Observer, Books of the Year *

Xiaolu Guo was born in south China. She studied at the Beijing Film Academy and published six books in China before moving to London in 2002. Her books include Village of Stone which was shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers which was shortlisted for the Orange Prize, 20 Fragments of a Ravenous Youth which was longlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize, and I Am China which was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. Her recent memoir, Once Upon a Time in the East, won the National Book Critics Circle Award, was shortlisted for the Costa Biography Award, the Jhalak Prize and the Rathbones Folio Award 2018, and was a Sunday Times Book of the Year. In 2013 Xiaolu was named as one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists. She has directed several award-winning films including She, A Chinese, and documentaries about China and Britain. She was a judge for the Booker Prize in 2019, and is currently a visiting professor at Columbia University in New York.

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