Cao Wenxuan
Cao Wenxuan in 2020
Native name	曹文轩
Born	January 1954 (age 72) Yancheng,Jiangsu, China
Occupation	Novelist
Language	Chinese
Alma mater	Peking University
Period	1983–present
Genre	Children's literature
Notable works	The Grass House Bronze and Sunflower
Notable awards	19th Golden Rooster Award for Best Writing 1999The Grass House Huabiao Award 1998The Grass House 14th Tehran International Film Festival - the Golden Butterfly Prize

Cao Wenxuan (simplified Chinese:曹文轩;traditional Chinese:曹文軒;pinyin:Cáo Wénxuān; born January 1954) is a Chinese novelist, best known for his works ofchildren's literature.^{[1][2][3][4][5]} Cao is the vice president of the Beijing Writers Association.^[3][4][5] He is also a professor and doctoral tutor atPeking University.^[3][4][5] His novels have been translated into English, Dutch, French,^[6] German,^[7] Italian,^[8]Japanese,Korean,^[9] andSerbian.^[10]

Cao was born in 1954 inYancheng,Jiangsu.^[3][11] He entered into the Department of Chinese Language and Literature ofPeking University in 1974 and started to publish novels in 1983.^[3][11][12]

In April 2016 Cao was announced as the winner of theHans Christian Andersen Award for children's writing being the first Chinese author to ever receive the award.^[13] The International Board on Books for Young People's jury, announcing the award, said Cao "writes beautifully about the complex lives of children facing great challenges. He is a deeply committed writer, whose own difficult childhood has been deeply influential on his writing in which there are no easy answers."^[14] He received the award in Auckland, New Zealand, on 20 August 2016.^[15] His acceptance speech was titled "Literature: Another Form of Housebuilding" (文学：另一种造屋).^[16]

Cao'sDingding and Dangdang (2012) (Illustrated byZhenjun Liu) series follows the life of two brothers withDown syndrome living in a small rural Chinese village. This series was selected as one of IBBY's Outstanding Books for Young People with Disabilities 2015.^[17][18][19]

• 1985The Old Walls (古老的围墙)
• 1991Goats Do Not Eat Heaven Grass (山羊不吃天堂草)
• 1997The Grass House (草房子)
• 1999The Bird (根鸟)
• 2000The Red Tile Roof (红瓦房)
• 2005Red Tile, Black Tile (红瓦黑瓦)
• 2005The Thin Rice (细米)
• 2005Bronze and Sunflower (青铜葵花)^{[20][21][22][23]}
• 2005The Gourd Ladle (天瓢)
• 2008Dawang Tome: The Amber Tiles (大王书：黄琉璃)^[24]
• 2008Dawang Tome: The Red Lantern (大王书：红纱灯)
• 2012Dingding and Dangdang (丁丁当当，黑痴白痴)^[25] (Illustrated byZhenjun Liu)
• 2014A Cool Bird Wawa^[26]
• 2015Firebrand (火印)
• 2016Dragonfly Eyes (蜻蜓眼)
• 2019Caoxiewan Road (草鞋湾)

• 1983A Cattle without Horns (没有角的牛)
• 1988A Small House Buried in The Snow (埋在雪下的小屋)
• 1988The Evening Has Come Down Upon The Ancestral Temple (暮色笼罩的祠堂)

• 1986Mist Covered The Old Castle (云雾中的古堡)
• 1986The Dumb Cattle (哑牛)
• 1989The Blue Countryside (忧郁的田园)
• 1992The Green Fence (绿色的栅栏)
• 1994A City under The Water (水下有座城)
• 1994The Red Calabash (红葫芦)
• 1996The Rose Valley (蔷薇谷)
• 1997Sanjiaodi (三角地)
• 2005The Windmill (野风车)
• 2008Gouyayu (狗牙雨)
• 2008A Very Special Pigeon (一只叫凤的鸽子)^[27]

• Summer in a Cotton Padded Jacket (穿棉袄的夏天)^[25]
• Feather (羽毛), illustrated by Roger Mello^[28] English translation by Chloe Garcia Roberts^[29]
• Chrysanthemum Doll (菊花娃娃)
• Last Leopard (最后一只豹子)
• A Big Fish Swims East (一条大鱼向东游)
• Crazy Rooster (痴鸡)
• Bird Boat (鸟船)
• Flying Bird Nest (飞翔的鸟窝)
• Summer (translated by Yan Ding, illustrated byYu Rong)
• Smoke (translated by Duncan Poupard, illustrated byYu Rong)

• Crows (乌鸦)^[30]

• Cao Wenxuan won theHans Christian Andersen Award 2016.^[31]
• Goats Do Not Eat Heaven Grass (山羊不吃天堂草) – 3rdSong Qingling Literature Prize,National Five Top Project Award^[3][4][5]
• The Grass House (草房子) – Bingxin Literature Prize, 4th National Book Award, National Five Top Project Award, 5th Song Qingling Literature Prize,19th Golden Rooster Award for Best Writing (1999),Huabiao Award (1998), 14th Tehran International Film Festival - the Golden Butterfly Prize^[3][4][5]
• Bronze and Sunflower (青铜葵花) – Bingxin Literature Prize, National Book Award, National Five Top Project Award.^[3][4][5] The English translation was a 2017Kirkus Finalist,^[32] a New York Times Notable Children's Book of 2017,^[33] and has been nominated forYALSA's Best Fiction for Young Adults award,^[34] Center for the Study of Multicultural Children's Literature - Best Books of 2017.^[35]Helen Wang's English translation ofBronze and Sunflower earned her the 2017Marsh Award for Children's Literature in Translation.)
• Dingding and Dangdang (丁丁当当) (Illustrated byZhenjun Liu) –Selected as one of the 2015 IBBY Outstanding Books for Young People with Disabilities^[36]

One of his works has been adapted for film:

• The Grass House (草房子) (directed by Xu Geng)

Two more of his works are being adapted for film:Bronze and Sunflower andFirebrand.^[37]

• Cao Wenxuan atLibrary of Congress, with 21 library catalogue records
• "Little Sugarcoating in Cao Wenxuan’s Children’s Books" by Amy Qin, New York Times, 1 May 2016
• "Bologna 2108: A Talk with Cao Wenxuan", by Teri Tan, Publishers Weekly, 5 April 2018

• 1954 births
• Writers from Yancheng
• Peking University alumni
• Academic staff of Peking University
• Living people
• Chinese male short story writers
• 20th-century Chinese novelists
• Chinese male novelists
• Chinese children's writers
• Chen Bochui Children's Literature Award winners
• 20th-century Chinese short story writers
• 20th-century Chinese male writers
• Short story writers from Jiangsu
• Hans Christian Andersen Award for Writing winners

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