The Waste Land was first published in 1922, in the aftermath of a world war and global pandemic. It has been translated into some 35 languages. Berkshire Publishing Group's centenary edition includes, in addition to the title poem, a number of Eliot's best-known early poems, including "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," "Portrait of a Lady," "Preludes," "Rhapsody on a Windy Night," "The Boston Evening Transcript," "La Figlia che Piange," and "The Hollow Men." The design is based on both the original Hogarth Press edition, produced by Leonard and Virginia Woolf, and the American Boni & Liveright design. In his foreword, internationally acclaimed novelist and translator Qiu Xiaolong explains how he came, as a student in China, to love Eliot's poetry and what it has meant, and means today, to readers around the world. There is also an afterword by Berkshire's CEO Karen Christensen, who worked for Valerie Eliot, the poet's second wife, as a young editor. The centenary edition is available in paperback and hardcover, ePub and PDF ebook, and in a collector's limited edition.
QIU Xiaolong was born in Shanghai, where his novels are set, but has lived in St. Louis for over 30 years. His detective thrillers, featuring Chief Inspector CHEN Cao of the Shanghai police, are amongst the best-known contemporary novels set in China, translated into over 20 languages. Inspector Chen, like his creator, is a poet and translator of T. S. Eliot into Chinese. Qiu has also translated three collections of Chinese poetry,and published two volumes of his own poems. His latest novel is The Shadow of the Empire.
Karen CHRISTENSEN is an American publishing entrepreneur, environmentalist, and author. She was editorial assistant to Valerie Eliot, T. S. Eliot's second wife, in London in the late 1980s, and has written about Valerie Eliot as well as other women connected with powerful and influential men. In 2021, the Shanghai Review of Books featured an interview of her with QIU Xiaolong in celebration of the centenary of The Waste Land. She owns and runs Berkshire Publishing Group.