Night Train Book Tour
Berkeley | New York | Boston
Jeremy Tiang presents his translation of Night Train by Xu Zechen
Looking to take a vacation before settling in for to his PhD studies and hoping to swindle a little traveling money from his father, Chen Munian made up a story about killing someone and needing to flee.
But now that lie has taken on a life of its own and everyone—the university, the police, the sprawling campus community—is convinced he’s a murderer.
Munian is barely holding on: his wages are meager, he lives with a group of chaotic roommates, he drinks too much with his crazy artist neighbor who is obsessed with Van Gogh, and his bumbling attempts to woo the beautiful Qin Ke always end in heartache. His life keeps spiraling out of his control, and he can’t help but wonder if he was destined to be a murderer all along.
Xu Zechen’s Night Train, in Jeremy Tiang’s brash translation, follows characters who live on the precipice, where the foolish mistakes of young men can have devastating consequences.
Tour Schedule
Sunday, May 31 | 1:30-2:30 pm PDT
Bay Area Book Festival
Dark Nights of the Soul: Mental Health in Translation
with Jeremy Tiang and Tatiana Țîbuleac, moderated by Rita Bullwinkel
The Marsh Arts Center Cabaret, 2021 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA
Thursday, June 4 | 7:00 pm EDT
New York: Jeremy Tiang on Night Train with YZ Chin
Yu & Me Books, 44 Mulberry St., New York, NY
Saturday, June 6 | 7:00 pm EDT
Boston: Jeremy Tiang on Night Train
Brookline Booksmith, 279 Harvard St., Boston, MA
More Info
Jeremy Tiang is a novelist, playwright and Sinophone translator. Recent translations include Liu Xinwu’s The Wedding Party, which was shortlisted for the National Translation Award, as well as novels by Zhang Yueran, Shuang Xuetao, Lo Yi-Chin, Yan Ge and Yeng Pway Ngon. Their novel State of Emergency won the Singapore Literature Prize in 2018. Earlier this year they were the Princeton University Translator-in-Residence, and served on the jury of the International Booker Prize. Originally from Singapore, they live in Flushing, Queens.
Rita Bullwinkel is the author of Headshot and Belly Up. She is also the editor of McSweeney’s Quarterly. She lives in San Francisco.
YZ Chin is the author of Edge Case and Though I Get Home. Edge Case is a New York Times Editors’ Choice and an NPR Books We Love pick. Though I Get Home won the Louise Meriwether First Book Prize and the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature honor title. YZ is also a translator of Mahua literature. Her translation of Smalltown Godzilla by Teng Kuan Kiat is forthcoming in January 2027. Her work has been supported by the National Endowments for the Arts and MacDowell as well as short-listed for a PEN Presents x International Booker Prize. Born and raised in Taiping, Malaysia, she lives in New York.