Chan Ho-kei

In this Chinese name, the family name is Chan.
Chan Ho-kei
Born1975 (age 48–49)
Hong Kong
NationalityChinese
Alma materChinese University of Hong Kong
OccupationCrime novelist
Years active2008 - present
Notable workThe Borrowed, Second Sister
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese陳浩基
Simplified Chinese陈浩基
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinChén hàojī
Yue: Cantonese
Jyutpingcan4 hou3 gei1

Chan Ho-kei is an author of mystery novels from Hong Kong. He writes in Chinese and many of his novels have been translated into English and other languages.

Biography

Chan was born and raised in Hong Kong[1] and studied computer science at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Besides writing, he has worked as a software engineer and video game designer, and also as an editor of comic magazines.[2][3]

He started writing in 2008 with the short story The case of Jack and the Beanstalk (Chinese: 傑克魔豆殺人事件) which was shortlisted for the Mystery Writers of Taiwan award. In 2009 he won the 7th Mystery Writers of Taiwan Award with his short story The Locked Room of Bluebeard, published in Chinese as 藍鬍子的密室.[4][5]

In 2011 he won the 2nd Soji Shimada Mystery Award (an award created by Soji Shimada to honour classic detective mysteries in Chinese)[6] with his first novel The Man Who Sold the World (遺忘·刑警).[7] It was translated into Italian as Duplice Delitto a Hong Kong by Riccardo Moratto[8] and also published in Thailand and Japan, as well as mainland China and Taiwan.[9]

"The most powerful element of a mystery novel, to me, is its ability to deceive and shock the viewer at the end of the story. The twist changes how you see everything [that came before it]."

—Chan Ho-Kei[3]

His novel The Borrowed (initially published in Chinese as 13·67 in 2014) is a set of six crime stories set in Hong Kong between 1967 and 2013 and focussing on the relationship between Inspector Kwan and his protegé.[10] It won the 2015 Taipei International Book Fair Award, the Eslite Bookstore Readership Award and the first Hong Kong Literature Season Recommendation Award.[11] It was translated into English by Singaporean writer Jeremy Tiang and published in 2017 by Grove Atlantic. It has also been translated into Indonesian (as 13·67), German (by Sabine Längsfeld, from the English translation, as Das Auge von Hongkong), French (by Alexis Brossolet as Hong Kong Noir), Dutch (also as Hong Kong Noir) and Japanese (as 13·67). In Japan, it won the Booklog 2018 grand prize for best overseas novel[12] and the Honyaku mystery readers' award for a translated work.[13] It was also shortlisted for the Best Translated Honkaku Mystery of the Decade (2010-2019).[14] Many reviewers mentioned that besides the mystery story, the book also provided a rare insight into Hong Kong's social situation.[15][16][17]

His novel Second Sister, which deals with hacking and sexual harassment was published in 2017 in Chinese as 網內人. It was also translated by Jeremy Tiang and released in English in 2020. It has also been translated into Japanese and German (by Sabine Längsfeld, from the English translation).[18] Reviewers mentioned the elaborate plot and the details about life in Hong Kong.[19][20][21]

Bibliography

Books published in English

  • The Borrowed, Grove Atlantic, 2017, ISBN 9780802125880 (2014 in Chinese as 13·67)
  • Second Sister, Grove Atlantic, 2020, ISBN 9780802129475 (2017 in Chinese as 網內人)

References

  1. ^ Kate Whitehead (7 April 2018). "Five books a Hong Kong crime writer couldn't live without: Chan Ho-kei's must-reads for a desert island". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
  2. ^ J. Madison Davis (Summer 2020). "econd Sister by Chan Ho-Kei". World Literature Today. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
  3. ^ a b Ho, Edmund (2017-10-04). "Award-winning HK author Chan Ho-kei on the value of a good plot twist in mysteries". Young Post. Retrieved 2023-05-12.
  4. ^ "HO-KEI CHAN". The Hong Kong International Literary Festival. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
  5. ^ "September 2020: Chan Ho-Kei 陳浩基 and the Bai Meigui Translation Competition". The Leeds Centre for New Chinese Writing. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
  6. ^ "Godfather of Japanese detective stories inspired by Sherlock". Shanghai Daily. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
  7. ^ "HO-KEI CHAN". The Hong Kong International Literary Festival. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
  8. ^ Stefano Locati (4 July 2012). "Chan Ho Kei, DUPLICE DELITTO A HONG KONG (2011)". Asia Express. Archived from the original on 12 May 2021. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
  9. ^ "Chan Ho-Kei". Books from Taiwan. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
  10. ^ J. Madison Davis (May 2017). "The Borrowed by Chan Ho-Kei". World Literature Today. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
  11. ^ "Chan Ho Kei". the script road. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
  12. ^ "海外小説部門大賞". Booklog (in Japanese). Retrieved 16 February 2021.
  13. ^ "翻訳ミステリー読者賞". livedoor blog (in Japanese). Retrieved 16 February 2021.
  14. ^ "2010年代海外本格ミステリ ベスト作品選考座談会" [Best Translated Honkaku Mystery of 2010s]. Giallo (in Japanese). Tokyo, Japan: Kobunsha. 23 July 2021.
  15. ^ Melanie Ho (25 March 2017). ""The Borrowed" by Chan Ho-Kei". Asian Review of Books. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
  16. ^ Margaret Cannon (24 March 2017). "Book reviews". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
  17. ^ Susan Blumberg-Kason (28 December 2016). "Hong Kong Noir". Blog Los Angeles review of books. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
  18. ^ J. Madison Davis (Summer 2020). "Second Sister by Chan Ho-Kei". World Literature Today. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
  19. ^ David Gordon (20 March 2020). "A Coke-Snorting Oligarch, a Gangrenous Finger and Other Noir Delights". New York Times. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
  20. ^ Susan Blumberg-Kason (6 February 2020). ""Second Sister" by Chan Ho-Kei". Asian Review of Books. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
  21. ^ "Second Sister by Chan Ho-Kei, translated by Jeremy Tiang". Smithsonian APA. 24 January 2020. Retrieved 16 February 2021.