Hongying Yang (pictured, via) has been dubbed “China’s J.K. Rowling,” selling 40 million books in China. In the past few years, HarperCollins has found an audience for her work in the English-speaking world.
Harper Collins China Business Development managing director Stella Chou told the Beijing Review: “The performance of Yang’s books is the best among the books we’ve introduced from China to the English-speaking world … Yang’s books offer insight into contemporary society through a typical Chinese child, and a typical Chinese cat.”
The article called Yang the first Chinese kidlit writer to find a place in the mainstream English market. A former elementary school teacher, Yang primarily writes for the 6-to-12-year-old age group. Her titles include: Girl’s Diary, the Mo’s Mischief series and the Diary of a Smiling Cat series.