The British Library and Yuewen have launched a landmark three-year collaboration, Literature within the Digital Age, to reinforce cultural change between the UK and China and to advertise partnerships in creating new cultural IP.
The brand new collaboration was introduced in a launch occasion on the British Library final night time with representatives from the British Library, Yuewen, the China-Britain Enterprise Council (CBBC), together with famend Yuewen authors and Richard Pooley, Director of the Conan Doyle Property and step-grandson of Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, to discover and focus on literature within the digital age.
Talking on the occasion, Jas Rai, Chief Working Officer of the British Library, highlighted how “this collaboration with Yuewen will make our collection accessible and relevant to new audiences around the world. We’re excited for what’s to come as this project unfolds and connects literature lovers across continents.”
The spotlight of this collaboration is the brand new inclusion of ten widespread on-line novels by Chinese language authors being added to the British Library’s assortment, documenting the more and more widespread cultural development of web literature in China. A few of the hottest new novels in China are being included reminiscent of Lord of Mysteries, a fantasy thriller that has amassed over 86 million views on-line.
“This is a recognition of not only our writers and their creativity, but also online literature as an emerging cultural force,” famous Yuewen Group CEO Hou Xiaonan. “Just as the popular Sherlock Holmes and Harry Potter grew from literary roots to worldwide fame, we look forward to welcoming the next generation of global stories in online literature. It is an honor to see titles such as Lord of Mysteries now being housed in the British Library alongside the works of Shakespeare and other classics.”
All these works have been initially printed on Yuewen’s digital platforms. In 2017, Yuewen launched its worldwide platform, WebNovel, now internet hosting 650,000 authentic works by 430,000 contributors from all over the world. Hou Xiaonan additionally revealed that within the UK alone, WebNovel has attracted 16,000 contributors and over 6.83 million guests to this point, with annual readership rising by almost 30%—a testomony to the rising cultural influence of web literature within the UK.
The three-year undertaking features a programme for Yuewen writers to see among the most iconic gadgets in Library’s assortment, attend inventive workshops, and interact in co-creation digital campaigns with readers to mix Yuewen IP with English literature works from the British Library.
