THE 15th annual Reading Month concluded with a vote for the top 10 books of the year at an award ceremony held at Nanshan District Culture and Sports Center on Sunday.

    The 10 books, including six translated foreign works and four Chinese works, are “One Square Inch of Silence,” “The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin’s Russia,” “The Besieged Tengchong in 1944,” “Less Than One,” “Red Rain: A Chinese County’s History of Violence in Seven Centuries,” “Le Chat De Schrodinger,” “Zhan Dui: Finally Melted Iron Lump,” “Empty Nest,” “1927-1947 Collected Poems” and “The Year 1996.”

    Three-hundred books were submitted to the selection in November. After several rounds of voting, 10 books were picked by 17 judges composed of renowned domestic professionals in the book industry and editors-in-chief of popular media outlets.

    Different from the conventional practices at other domestic book evaluation events in which book publishers are nominated by judges, the Shenzhen event required book publishers of 30 books that were shortlisted to canvass for votes by recommending their books to judges with one-minute speeches, challenging book publishers.

    To ensure transparency in the voting, 17 judges cast ballots via electronic voting machines on their desks with the audience as witnesses.

    Five groups of audience members representing different reading groups also cast ballots to vote for their favorite book. They selected “One Square Inch of Silence.”

    In addition to choosing the top 10 books of the year, Reading Month presented four awards to authors, publishers, translators and publishing houses in recognition of their contributions.

    This year’s prize of venerated writer went to Zeng Yanxiu, an influential writer since the founding of New China. The two other candidates were Shen Changwen and Shao Yanxiang. The 95-year-old Zeng is the author of a vast collection of publications, and his latest work was published this year to high acclaim.

    Liu Ruilin, editor-in-chief of Guangxi Normal University Press, was named the venerated publisher of the year. Liu won the award by a narrow margin over Yu Xiaoqun, president of children’s book publishing house Dolphin Books. Yu is recognized for bringing a nameless publishing house into fame.

    Liu said it was a surprise for her to be chosen. “A few years ago, I said that I wanted to lead my publishing house in publishing books of good quality, personality, dignity and independent judgment, and I was jeered for that. I knew pursuing that goal would be tough for me, but my faith in publishing and the hardships I faced made my work more appealing,” she said.

    Liu, who won the accolade of influential figure in the press industry by iNewsweek, was a favored choice by judge Yao Wentan, editor-in-chief of China Publishing Group Digital Media Co.

    “I am impressed that Liu Ruilin would finish reading an author’s manuscript and offer her publishing plan before sending the manuscript for printing. Her sense of responsibility is rare among contemporary publishers,” Yao said.

    Late translator Sun Zhongxu was posthumously awarded as the venerated book translator of the year. The translator, who committed suicide in August at age 41 after a long struggle with depression, translated more than 30 works, most of which are world masterpieces, such as “The Catcher in the Rye,” “1984,” “Animal Farm,” “Coming Up for Air,” “Liar in Love,” “The Easter Parade,” Woody Allen’s “The Whore of Mensa,” and more. His translated works are recognized for their smooth writing style.

    Social Sciences Academic Press stood out from two other publishing houses, SDX Joint Publishing Company and Shanghai Translation Publishing House, to become the venerated publishing house of the year. Founded in 1985, SSAP has turned huge tomes into favored academic editions with market value.

    (Anna Zhao)