THE first English version of “Legends of the Condor Heroes” written by Louis Cha Leung-yung, better known by his pen name Jin Yong, will be published next year by British publisher Maclehose Press.

The publishing company has recently confirmed that the English version of the martial arts novel will be released in 12 volumes. The first volume “A Hero Born,” priced at 14.99 pounds (US$ 19.85), is scheduled to release Feb. 22, 2018.

This is the first time that the popular novel has been officially translated into English, before which some ardent readers had translated a few chapters and uploaded them to the Internet. But there was neither professional editing and publishing, nor the purchase of copyright.

The English version is promoted as a Chinese version of “Game of Thrones.” The introduction also mentions that Jin Yong, one of the bestselling writers in the world, has sold more than 100 million Chinese copies worldwide, including a huge quantity of pirated books.

Anna Holmwood, a British translator of the first volume, has worked as a publishing agent with many well-known Chinese writers before the translation. “My interest in Chinese literature began in 2006 when I was studying my master’s degree of contemporary Chinese studies at University of Oxford. I started to translate Chinese novels in 2010, and since then began to betake myself to translate and promote Chinese literature,” said Holmwood.

In 2012, Holmwood embarked on translating “Legends of the Condor Heroes.” At first, she only translated some snippets. During the translation, Holmwood lived in Hangzhou most of the time, as in her view, it was like “back to the ancient Lin’an.”

“Translating the novel is a long-term and complex project,” she said. “For the translation of the second volume, I invited another translator, Gigi Chang, as a helper. Though the first volume had been finished, it was still a good thing to have someone to discuss and share with. Now, our work is going to continue.”

It is also the first time that Jin Yong’s novel is published by a British publisher. Prior to this, there were only three complete English versions of Jin Yong’s novels, which were published by Hong Kong publishers. (Zhang Yu)