What does it mean for them to communicate candidly and become "contracted writers"? Works in Shanghai | Contract | Writer
"During a day of communication, two microphones were 'broken', indicating that the communication was very enthusiastic and necessary. In the past few years, we have rarely met, and being able to fully express what we want to say face-to-face is a great opportunity. This exchange is also a showcase and review of the team of contracted writers, and everyone has presented their latest representative works, reflecting the level and strength of contracted writers and the effectiveness of the contracted writer system. In a sense, money is not in vain." After a full day of communication, Ma Wenyun, the full-time vice chairman of the Shanghai Writers' Association, humorously summarized the Shanghai Writers' Association's contracted writer seminar on City, Reality, and Innovation, which was held on the 22nd at Chen Yun's former residence in Cuiyuan.
The Shanghai Writers Association's contracted writer system, which began in 2003, has signed 21 batches of writers, totaling nearly 300 people. Some well-known writers nowadays have signed writer sequences, such as the late director and writer Peng Xiaolian, Yin Huifen, Chen Danyan, Tang Ying, Teng Xiaolan, Lu Nei, Ren Xiaowen, Nado, and so on. After 2015, new forces such as post-90s writers San San, Wu Qingyuan, Wang Zhanhei, and Wang Suxin became contracted writers. The signing party is inclined towards young and middle-aged writers who have certain creative strength and influence and propose valuable literary original topics, and tends to support writers who have no fixed job and are applying for the first time under the same conditions.
The seminar, organized by the Shanghai Writers Association, hosted by Shanghai Culture and Sinan Literature Selections, and co organized by Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House, is the first discussion activity since the implementation of the contracted writer system. It takes the form of one-on-one writers and critics to "pulse" the works of contracted writers. Writers, critics, and literary editors from all over the country, including Luo Weizhang, Tian Er, Hu Di, Li Hao, Zhang Chu, Lai Yingyan, Wang Jijun, Xie Jin, Ayi, Dong Jun, Si Jidong, Gui Chuanliang, Zhang Yiwei, Chi Shang, Xiao Jianghong, etc., conducted detailed textual analysis on the works of Shanghai contracted writers such as Zhao Song, Zouzhou, Juping, Jun Tian, Ge Shuyi, Wang Rong, Xiao Fan, Mo Yin, Sugar Bandit, Wang Mozhi, Wang Huicheng, Wang Zhanhei, San, Li Lu, and Wang Suxin. Such high configuration has made Xue Shu, the former Vice Chairman of the Shanghai Writers Association and Director of the Creation Association, feel quite envious.
"Zhao Song's novels probably belong to the category of 'second eye beauties'. His writing has two faces, the first being lazy, distant, and rejecting, and the other being hot, full of entanglement and longing for life. Reading Zhao Song's novels is indeed an adventure for me, discovering unfamiliar characters from it." Sichuan writer Luo Weizhang bluntly stated to the contracted author Zhao Song's novel collection' Yichun ', "Zhao Song is a very valuable writer with a conscious awareness of problems. However, reading his novels started to feel bad and it was difficult to read. You wrote so well, why was it a refusal to enter attitude at the beginning?"
"Why not make it easier for readers to access some?" Zhao Song responded: "In today's Internet age, I always believe that providing a seemingly friendly context is not the writer's obligation and responsibility. I prefer to provide a strange world, even if it is not too high, but it is steep and difficult to climb."
The works of new generation contracted writers such as Wang Zhanhei's "Little Flower Dan", San San's "Late Spring", Li Lu's "Telegraph to Mirage Island", and Wang Suxin's "Elephant Crossing" have received attention. San San said, "I found that Shanghai writers have a characteristic. Friends who usually write together are very life oriented, and even scenes like seminars are still candid and sincere, rather than making writing a barren halo." "I and Wang Zhanhei, Li Lu, and San San have similar eras and experiences, but their states of development are very different. Although we are all friends, what we actually write is completely different. Seeing these differences, I am deeply moved and hope to maintain growth in the literary environment of Shanghai," said Wang Suxin. Wang Huicheng, a young writer who signed the "Shanghai Youth Writer Review" series, said that it is an interesting topic to see the creations of writers of the same age and how they understand the current society.
"Holding this seminar to examine the contracted writer system from the perspective of works, allowing creators to see room for improvement through the eyes of critics, especially to make writers and critics from all over the country pay more attention to the works of the new generation of writers in Shanghai, and to promote the high-quality development of literature from a professional perspective." Wang Wei, Secretary of the Party Group of the Shanghai Writers' Association, said that contracted writers are the driving force of Shanghai's literary creation. To make this system more effective, talents and works can be produced, "contracted writers are a group with growth potential, and we hope that this team can contribute more and better works."
