Chapter 812: Double Hit Pulitzer
There is less than half a month left before Old Cheng hands over the power of the National Literature Society, but this is no longer important. In the past, powerful officials would never wait for the emperor to abdicate.
This is of course a joke.
Although Lin Weimin is a prickly person, he is indeed extremely capable.
Last month, the World Literature Classics Collection was completed and published, which not only brought fame to the Guowen Publishing House, but also gave the Press and Publication Administration a chance to show off in front of the top leaders.
Such a capable minister, although it may make people a little upset when he makes trouble, it is also very pleasant when he receives credit!
Lin Weimin had planned to sit quietly in the community and take over Lao Cheng's shift, but things did not go as he wished. Just after he finished joking with Lao Cheng, he suddenly received a phone call.
"God Bless America" won an award!
When it comes to the Pulitzer Prize, Chinese people are not unfamiliar with it, and some may even be familiar with it.
The Pulitzer Prize was established in 1917 according to the will of American newspaper magnate Joseph Pulitzer. In the nearly 80 years since its establishment, it has become one of the highest awards in the American literary and journalistic circles.
But more people know it because of the Pulitzer Prize for Journalism.
The Pulitzer Prize is regarded by the global journalism community as the highest international award in the field of journalism and is known as the "Nobel Prize in Journalism."
In fact, the Pulitzer Prizes are divided into journalism awards and creative awards, with 14 journalism awards and 7 creative awards.
Lin Weimin won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, one of the seven creative awards in the category.
This award is also known as one of the three major awards in the American literary world, along with the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award. Unlike the National Book Critics Circle Award that Lin Weimin once won, the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction requires that the winning author must be an American citizen.
Lin Weimin is a Chinese, and the reason he won the award this time was related to the unique registration experience of "God Bless America".
"God Bless America" was published in the United States in October last year, with sales reaching 700,000 copies in the first month. Sales have maintained a good momentum in the following six months. Before the Pulitzer Prize winners were announced, the total sales of the novel had exceeded 3 million copies, making it a dark horse in the U.S. book market this year.
At the beginning of the year, this year's Pulitzer Prize selection activities quietly began.
The Pulitzer Prize is selected by the Pulitzer Prize Selection Committee composed of 16 people, including the president of Columbia University. FSG Publishing has a high status in the American literary world and has always had a good relationship with the Pulitzer Prize Jury.
Roger Strauss made a lot of money from publishing "God Bless America" this year, so he wanted to work hard for Lin Weimin to win awards. After all, if Lin Weimin's novel won an award, Roger Strauss and FSG Publishing would also benefit.
But Lin Weimin is a foreigner, and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction has restrictions on the author's nationality. After much thought, Roger Strauss took a different approach and actually nominated "God Bless America" for the Pulitzer Prize in History.
The Pulitzer Prizes are divided into two categories: journalism and writing. Writing includes seven awards, namely fiction, drama, history, biography, poetry, non-fiction, and music.
Among these awards, the winning authors must be American citizens, but there is one exception, which is the historical writing award.
Award rules: Foreign writers are eligible for the Pulitzer Prize in Historical Writing if their works involve American history.
Although "God Bless America" is about the future of American politics, a large part of it involves the past history of the United States.
Roger Strauss is an old fox in the publishing industry. He seized this loophole and, after some operations, actually made it successful.
On April 21, the Pulitzer Prize jury announced the list of winners for this year, and as expected, the name of "God Bless America" appeared on the list.
But what Roger Strauss didn't expect was that "God Bless America" not only won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, but the name actually appeared twice on the same list of winners!
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction Writing!
Pulitzer Prize for History Writing!
Unprecedentedly, a novel won two awards at the same time. "God Bless America" broke the history of the Pulitzer Prize for Creative Writing in its nearly 80-year history.
Even Roger Strauss, who registered Lin Weimin, was stunned when he saw the list of winners. He had hoped to win a prize by a narrow margin, but he never expected that the Pulitzer Prize would favor Lin Weimin and his novel so much.
A double hit!
After the initial surprise, Roger Strauss couldn't wait to call his old friend Lee Beaumont, president of Columbia University.
He called, of course, to ask about the inside story behind the double success of "God Bless America".
This blatant preference is really puzzling!
Roger Strauss had a good relationship with Lee Beaumont, otherwise he would not have been given the opportunity to play tricks.
He told Roger Strauss on the phone that the reason why "God Bless America" won two awards was mainly because the strength of the nominated works in the novel and historical writing categories this year generally shrank.
Of course, this reason is just a foundation.
The most important thing is that, while the Pulitzer Prize for Journalism has become increasingly famous over the years, the influence of creative awards has always been a little lacking.
The jury did this to attract some public attention and discussion for the award.
"God Bless America" has been published for half a year and has caused a great response in the United States. It has a large number of readers and has received rave reviews.
Moreover, Lin Weimin's reputation in the United States has been on the rise in the past two years. A novel with an American historical background written by a foreign writer like him won an American award, so it is naturally more talked-about than other novels.
Another reason is that in March just past, due to the Taiwan Islands issue, relations between China and the United States reached a freezing point. The jury believed that awarding an award to a Chinese writer at this time would be a news point that could create topics.
Lin Weimin was listening to Roger Strauss telling the inside story of how "God Bless America" won the award on the phone, and he was too tired to complain.
It has been said that domestic award judging is unfair, but in fact, it is the same abroad.
After all, the Pulitzer Prize is just for attention and topicality, so the choice of winning works is normal.
Many literature lovers in later generations should have heard that Yu Hua's "To Live" once won an Italian literature award called the Grinzane Cavour Literature Award.
This award was once considered a well-known literary award in the Italian literary world, but it was cancelled in 2009 because the chairman of the jury embezzled funds and the award could no longer be run due to lack of money.
However, no matter how I complain in my heart, this is still a prize.
But when Roger Strauss told him that the jury had sent him an invitation letter in advance, inviting him to go to the United States to receive the award in early May, he hesitated.
The relationship between China and the United States is tense right now. If he goes to the United States, he will inevitably be asked some questions about politics.
At times like this, it is wise to stay away from trouble.
No matter how Roger Strauss persuaded him, he insisted on not attending the award ceremony, which made Roger Strauss very helpless.
Lin Weimin hung up the phone amid Roger Strauss's regretful tone.
But he didn't expect that less than half a day later, the WJ department actually called him and invited him to visit.
When he got there, the person who talked to him was Mr. Qian, the head of the WJ department.
At this time, the WJ Department had already learned that "God Bless America" had won the Pulitzer Prize. This time, they invited Lin Weimin to attend the Pulitzer Prize ceremony in the hope that he could go to the United States to ease the current tense diplomatic relations between the two countries.
The situation was tense last month, but they are going to ease the relationship this month?
Lin Weimin didn't understand the reason, so Mr. Qian had to explain it to him patiently.
It turned out that last week, U.S. President James Comey spoke at a gathering of Asian Pacific American celebrities and emphasized his hope to improve relations with the country.
The speech was very long and the remarks were very pertinent. It was obvious that he was using this gathering to spread the message to the country.
The domestic leadership understood the intention of the move, and it just so happened that Lin Weimin won the Pulitzer Prize at this time, which was a good opportunity to ease the relationship between the two sides.
Lin Weimin felt relieved after hearing this explanation. After the tension between the two sides in 1996, the relationship did recover in a very short time and was even hotter than before.
Since the organization needed him, Lin Weimin naturally agreed to the task.
A few days later, Lin Weimin received an invitation letter from the Pulitzer Prize Committee. After a day of preparation, he boarded a flight to the United States.
There were also several WJ department staff members on the same flight.
May 8, New York, USA.
Columbia University, Lowry Library, Rotunda.
This is where the Pulitzer Prizes are awarded, every year on May 8th.
At around nine o'clock in the morning, many Pulitzer Prize jury members, journalists, literary writers and critics, and teachers from the Columbia University School of Journalism gathered together to welcome the arrival of this year's Pulitzer Prize winners.
There are 21 Pulitzer Prizes in total, but this year there were only 20 winners.
Everyone gathered together, and their eyes naturally focused on Lin Weimin, the only yellow person in the audience.
In the nearly 80-year history of the Pulitzer Prize, there have been many cases of two wins in the journalism category, but this has never happened in the creative writing category.
With such favoritism, it is normal for everyone to look at him with awe.
Everyone's eyes were on Lin Weimin, but his eyes were on the two comrades from the WJ department who accompanied him to the award ceremony. After they arrived, they did not stand with Lin Weimin, but hid in a corner far away.
Then Lin Weimin saw several American elites in suits and ties talking to the two men. The two groups gathered together and whispered, and it seemed like they were engaged in some illegal transaction.
He couldn't complain in his heart, was he considered an ice-breaking ambassador?
Lin Weimin had no time to pay attention to what was happening in the distance because he had to deal with the greetings from people around him.
As the focus of external publicity for this year's Pulitzer Prize, Lin Weimin was warmly welcomed by the jury members, and from time to time he greeted fellow winners, journalists and writers.
Unlike Lin Weimin who was accompanied by staff, these people were accompanied by their family members, and the atmosphere was warm and pleasant.
Time passed quickly and it was noon. According to the tradition of the Pulitzer Prize, a luncheon was held in the rotunda.
At the banquet, many winners received their prize money and certificates from Lee Beaumont, President of Columbia University.
The ceremony was not grand and the prize money was not much, only 7,500 knives.
Lin Weimin won two prizes alone and took home 15,000 yuan.
Seems out of place.
(End of this chapter)
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