CHINESE writer Mo Yan, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature last year, said that he wants to try to go back to his desk and write more good books as soon as possible. “It is said that many writers are unable to write another good book after winning the Nobel Prize — and I want to break that spell,” Mo writes in a new 160,000-word book, “Grand Ceremony,” released in Hainan on April 19.

    The book is about Mo’s trip to the Nobel Prize ceremony held in Sweden, and he recounts how his speech at Stockholm University — which he titled “I will continue telling my story” — was almost canceled due to interference by some opponents.

    Mo was told that there would be some people “making a fuss” during his speech. He writes that some “famous people” were not happy that he was awarded the prize and also spread rumors about him, but he did not want to respond to their remarks. “I knew why they were so crazy about it and I felt sympathy for them,” he writes.

    Mo’s friends suggested that he should cancel the speech, but Mo disagreed. “I could not embarrass the organizers and let the audience down,” he writes.

    In the end, there was no “fuss” at the speech and Mo’s speech was generally well received.

    Mo writes in the new book that after the speech he gained more supporters and “most impressively, Nobel Prize winner Tomas Transtromer also stood up for me. I believe that there is justice.”

    In “Grand Ceremony,” Mo also talks about his past. “A picture of me, Zhang Yimou and Gong Li taken during the shooting of ‘Red Sorghum’ became very popular on the Internet. It was taken 25 years ago in the backyard of my home in Gaomi, Shandong Province, and now, 25 years later, we are old. At that time, we were not famous, but now we are famous and old,” he said. “If I could choose to abandon all this fame and glory and go back to those days of my youth, I would choose to go back without hesitation,” he writes.

    One critic commented: “Putting aside the quality, it was very uneasy for Mo to calm down and write such a book in controversy in such a short time.” (Wang Yuanyuan)