Bruce Humes (徐穆实)

Bruce translates contemporary Chinese fiction into English, including Wei Hui’s best-selling tale of an international love triangle, "Shanghai Baby." More recently, literary agents and authors have commissioned him to read popular Chinese novels, recommend chapters for excerpting, and then translate for marketing to publishers in the West. Excerpted authors include Chun Shu (school marm), Xiao Hongchi (adventures of an investment banker), Mu Zimei (sex blogger, reformed), Feng Tang (growing up in Beijing) and Gu Bo (spy/action thriller).

At the moment, Bruce is proofing and editing the translation of "Yang Bin: Kim Il Jong's Adopted Son," authored by a Hong Kong investigative reporter. The controversial Yang Bin, now imprisoned in China, was the short-lived head honcho of North Korea's Sinuiju Special Administrative Zone.

An inveterate student of foreign languages, over the years he has somehow wangled (occasionally free) home stays in Kyoto, Istanbul, St. Petersburg and Paris. His essays on the Chinese press are available at www.danwei.org ( just input “Humes” in the search box), and his own web site at www.bruce-humes.com launches in early 2009.