(Photo : Mo Yan, Nobel Prize winner in literature 2012)

This year's Hong Kong book fair sets up three special exhibition zones for three outstanding writers. They are the writer of the year Chen Guanzhong, Hong Kong writer Ni Kuang, who created a famous character of "Wesley" in his serial novels, and Nobel winning author Mo Yan. However, after several days of observation, journalists notice that instead of turning into a runaway best-seller, Mo Yan's novel actually receives cold shoulders from Hong Kong readers.

Like Us on Facebook

"Last year, before Mo Yan was announced to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, we have already sent our invitation to him. At the beginning, we thought there was a good change for him to come. However, when we were still waiting for his response, there came the news Mo Yan won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Though we speeded up to contact him, the answer was still no." On July 17^th, the sponsors of Hong Kong Book Fair held a media dinner in Haigang, during the dinner, an official told journalists the above information. But sponsors still set up an exhibition zone for Mo Yan.

In Mo Yan's exhibition zone, there is a propaganda board up to two meters. A magnifying photo of Mo Yan laughing a hearty laugh is printed on the propaganda board. Beside the photo are Chinese and English introductions of Mo Yan. "Mo Yan, the first Chinese writers to win the Nobel Prize for Literature". Many of Mo Yan's novels are on the exhibition booth.

In this year's Hong Kong book fair, though Mo Yan's exhibition zone is striking, many Hong Kong readers just glance over these novels for a few minutes and leave. But during the first two mouths when Mo Yan just won the Nobel Prize, all of his novels were sold like crazy. Everyone was asking where to buy Mo Yan's novel. Unexpectedly, six months later, the crush on buying Mo Yan's novel has gone completely.

A Hong Kong writer said, not many Hong Kong readers are into literary books. In addition, some of Mo Yan's literary books are written in local dialects. So it may be difficult for Hong Kong readers to understand his novels.