Cao Wenxuan, a literature professor at Peking University, is the first Chinese author to win the Hans Christian Anderson award for children’s literature. Cao’s best-known children’s books include Bronze and Sunflower, Straw House, and The Eyes of Dragonfly. His works are recommended in Chinese schools for the use of language. His novels have been translated into English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Korean. Although Cao has tried many themes, morality, the appreciation of beauty and compassion have remained the three main areas of his writing.

The Red Tiles is a collection of Cao’s latest short stories. In these stories, he writes beautifully about the complex lives of children facing great challenges. It shows that children’s perspectives are not shallow, and that they experience the same cruelty, fear and depth of life as adults. Cao’s own childhood was filled with miseries and memories of hunger, so he hopes to provide young readers with an understanding of how to treat miseries. His signature language is peaceful, melancholy and beautiful.