A Hero Born, the first volume of famous Chinese martial¹ arts novelist Jin Yong's Legends of the Condor² Heroes, was on Thursday published in English for the first time.

 

中国武侠小说家金庸的《射雕英雄传》第一卷《英雄诞生》英译本周四首次出版。
 

 

British publishing house MacLehose bought the rights to the book five years ago and commissioned the translation work to Anna Holmwood, a professional focused on Chinese-English literary translation.

 

After years of hard work, the 400-page translation, priced at 14.99 pounds (20.8 U.S. dollars), finally hit bookstores.

 

"I feel very excited and a little nervous also of course. It is a big moment for me personally," Holmwood told Xinhua from her home in Sweden.

 

"If you are a fan of Lord Of The Rings and are looking for the next best thing, A Hero Born is definitely the book for you," Waterstone, one of Britain's biggest chain bookstores, said on its website.

 

Jin Yong is the pen name of Louis Cha, 93, who now lives in Hong Kong. He is one of the best-selling Chinese authors alive with over 300 million copies of his works sold in the Chinese-speaking world.

 

Despite their popularity, only few of Jin Yong's martial arts novels have been translated into English. The Legends of the Condor Heroes, one of his most well-known works, covers the Song Dynasty and features hundreds of characters, telling a story full of gravity-defying kung fu, treachery, loyalty³ and love.

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