First English version of classic martial arts novel to be released in the UK

The first English version of the famous martial arts novel "Legends of the Condor Heroes," written by Louis Cha, is scheduled to be released in the UK next year, thepaper.cn reported.

London-based Maclehose Press has confirmed that the novel will be released in 12 volumes, with the first "A Hero Born" set to be released on February 22, 2018, at a price of 14.99 pounds.

The cover of the first English version of the famous Wuxia novel "Legends of the Condor Heroes," published by Maclehose Press. [Photo: thepaper.cn]

In the publisher's promotional introduction of the Legends of the Condor Heroes, the series was referred to as a Chinese version of "Game of Thrones."

The first volume has been translated by Anna Holmwood, an English publishing agent who has cooperated with many famous Chinese writers such as Yu Hua, Liu Zhenyun, and Yan Ge.

Holmwood has been translating Legends of the Condor Heroes since 2012, and from the second volume onward invited Gigi Chang to help her with the translation.

Louis Cha, who is known in China as Jin Yong, is China's most influential martial arts author with a total of 15 novels in the genre. Since the 1950s, about 100 million copies of his works have been sold around the world, not including a large number of pirated versions. Numerous TV dramas, films and also animations based on his novels have also been released and earned him a huge fan base.

However, only three of Cha's works have been translated for the English-speaking world so far. They are "Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain," "The Deer and the Cauldron," and "The Book and the Sword," all translated by Graham Earnshaw.

One of the reasons for this is the difficulties in translating many unique terms such as xia, jianghu, and wugong, which have deep roots in traditional Chinese culture.