Zhang Ling (author)


Ling Zhang is a former senior audiologist and an acclaimed overseas Chinese writer currently residing in Toronto, Canada. She was born in Wenzhou, with ancestral roots in Cangnan, China and came to Canada in 1986 to pursue her MA in English at University of Calgary. She obtained her second MA degree in Communication disorders at the University of Cincinnati. In the mid-1990s, while working as a clinical audiologist, she started writing and publishing fictional works in Chinese. Since then, she has published ten novels and numerous collections of novellas and short stories. Ling Zhang's works have been translated into many other languages, including English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Russian, Hebrew, Japanese and Korean.
Ling Zhang has won numerous prestigious literary awards, including the Author of the Year Prize of Chinese Media Literature Awards, the Grand Prize of Overseas Chinese Literary Awards, and the Cao Xueqing Chinese Literary Prize. She was also short-listed for Dream of the Red Chamber Award.
In 2009, Zhang's novella Aftershock, about the survival of the horrific 1976 Tangshan earthquake, was made into China's first IMAX movie, Aftershock, directed by Feng Xiaogang. This movie became the greatest box office success at the time and has grossed more than US$100 million at the Chinese box office. According to The Wall Street Journal, Aftershock opens the IMAX market to Chinese films. ABC News also mentions that Aftershock becomes the highest-grossing film in China.
In 2011, a lawsuit was launched against Zhang Ling for alleged copyright infringement from works by three Canadian writers. However, the case was closed with no judgment against either of the parties.
Where Waters Meet is Ling Zhang's debut English novel, "beautifully written and artfully complex," according to San Francisco Book Review. It has also been named one of the 12 books for Tolerance and Understanding by World Literature Today.
A Single Swallow, the English version of Zhang's novel《劳燕》, listed on 2017 Sina best ten books list/2017 新浪年度十大好书, published by Amazon Crossing in October 2020, has immediately caught the media and readers' interest and was reviewed as “a literary work suffused with prodigious and descriptive exposition.” A Single Swallow became Amazon's #1 Kindle bestseller in Chinese literature and WWII historical fiction. The novel also was the winner of AudioFile Earphones Award and was listed with The New York Times Globetrotting 2021.

Major Awards and Honours

  • The Cao Xueqin Chinese Literary Prize - 张翎《归海》获曹雪芹华语文学大奖
  • Tencent Annual Top 10 Original Literary Books
  • Grand Prize, Sanmao Literary Essay Awards, （三毛散文奖大奖：《三种爱》/Three Kinds of Love，2023)
  • Sina Annual Best 10 Books
  • Grand Prize, Overseas Chinese Literary Awards,
  • Open Book Award, Chinese Reading Times, Taiwan
  • Novelist of the Year, Chinese Media Literary Awards,
  • Special Achievement Award for Overseas Chinese Writer, Chinese Association of Fiction – 中国小说学会海外作家特别奖
  • Grand Prize, The Inaugural Overseas Chinese Literary Awards

Selected works

Novels

Where Waters Meet by Amazon Crossing 《归海》, 作家出版社 A Single Swallow by Amazon Crossing —《劳燕》, 人民文学出版社 The Sands of Time —《流年物语》, 十月文艺出版社Tales of Birthing —《阵痛》，作家出版社Aftershock —《 唐山大地震》，花城出版社 Aftershock by Amazon Crossing Sleep, Flo, Sleep—《睡吧，芙洛，睡吧》，十月文艺出版社Gold Mountain Blues —《金山》，十月文艺出版社; Gold Mountain Blues by Penguin Canada, Le Rêve de la Montagne d'Or by Belfond, and Der Traum vom Goldenen Berg by Schöffling & Co.Mail-Order Bride —《邮购新娘》，作家出版社Beyond the Ocean —《交错的彼岸》，百花文艺出版社Sisters from Shanghai –《 望月》, 作家出版社

Collections of novellas and short stories

Urban Strays —《都市猫语》（2024），北京联合出版公司Saving the First Wife —《如此曙蓝》（2022)，广西师大出版社Night Whispers of the Bridge —《廊桥夜话》（2021），广西师大出版社Towards the North —《向北方》（2020），广西师大出版社The Rouge —《胭脂》（2018），长江文艺出版社The Way We Survive —《每个人站起来的方式，千姿百态》, 长江文艺出版社A Summer's Tale —《一个夏天的故事》，花城出版社The Songs of Love —《 恋曲三重奏》，江苏文艺出版社 The Darkest Night in Life —《生命中最黑暗的夜晚》，九州出版社A Woman at Forty —《女人四十》，中国工人出版社The Aftershock —《余震》，十月文艺出版社Yan's Journey Home —《雁过澡溪》，成都时代出版社Blind Date — 《盲约》，花城出版社The World of Flesh —《尘世》，广西人民出版社