Ma Xiaotao

Born in 1982, Ma Xiaotao is the author of five books and editor of the prestigious literary magazine People's Literature. Ma was born into a writers' family, and has strong skills in broadcasting, which was her major at university.

Ma also works for Pathlight, the English-language magazine run by People's Literature. Through her back and forth with the foreign editors in picking proper Chinese writers to be introduced to the English-speaking world, she came to understand that urban stories by Chinese writers do not interest foreign readers. "They prefer pioneering texts, as well as the grass-root stories on things like issuing fake identifications and selling fake medicines," Ma said.