Return of Newriting warmly received

The January 2024 issue of Newriting, the country's first "mook" (magazine book). [Photo provided to China Daily]

Newriting magazine, the first issue of which came out in 2008, was China's first "mook" (magazine book) publishing original literary work.

After a pause in 2019, it announced its return on Monday with its upcoming January 2024 issue.

Newriting seeks to encourage new novels, poems, literary commentary and interviews. Under its chief editor Zhang Yueran, a representative of the generation of writers born in the 1980s, and also an associate professor at the School of Liberal Arts at Renmin University, it has adopted an international perspective on promoting exchange.

"Newriting will continue to publish in print, and will sponsor workshops, contests and literary camps," the editorial team said in an official statement.

Taking up where it left off, the January issue will be dedicated to a theme, this time the idea of "serious writing".

It will include submissions by Shuang Xuetao, Xu Haofeng and Yoshii Shinobu, as well as critics Fan Ye and Huang Yuning, who will explore the blurring of lines between serious literature and popular writing, like fantasy and science fiction.

Readers have warmly welcomed the publication's return. News of the upcoming issue has been posted on social media, with some calling it a "fight against the gloomy trend in published magazines". One commentator wrote: "I don't think I was their target reader, but I have been reading Newriting from the very first issue, and always get inspiration from it."

"I have all the previous issues on my bookshelf, and am looking forward to the new ones," wrote another reader, who goes by the online moniker of "Persian snail".