Su Tong’s The Boat to Redemption has won the 2009 Man Asian Prize. The novel (the English translation of which will be released 10 January 2010) tells the story of a Chinese Communist party official who is expelled from the party and sent into exile in a community of boat people when his claims to be descended from a revolutionary hero are found to be spurious. The award carries a $10,000 prize, and was judged by Colm Toibin, Gish Jen, and Pankaj Mishra.
Last year’s award went to Chinese writer Jiang Rong for Wolf Totem.