Nobel winner meets fans

Author tells Chinese audiences that writers simply have to 'keep on writing' to be successful

Nobel prize laureate V. S. Naipaul met Chinese readers in Shanghai on Monday at the launch of the Chinese edition of his novel, A Bend in the River. The Trinidad-born British writer is in China for the first time and his weeklong visit will take him to the annual Shanghai Book Fair, a major cultural highlight running from Wednesday until Aug 19, and a series of literary events.

A Bend in the River, published in 1979, is set in an unnamed, newly independent African country. It was ranked 83rd on the Modern Library's list of the 100 best English novels of the 20th century in 1998.