Mo Yan (莫言)

 Royalty income: 21.5 million yuan (US$3.45 million)

Bestseller: "Big Breasts and Wide Hips" 《豐乳肥臀》

Age: 57

2011 Ranking: N/A

Chinese writer Mo Yan won the 2012 Nobel Prize in Literature, undoubtedly the most important literary event in China this year. Born in 1955 in Gaomi, Shandong Province, Mo Yan (meaning "Don't speak") is the pen name of Guan Moye. Guan attended primary school in his hometown and actually was forced to drop out because of China's Cultural Revolution. During that time, he was sent to the countryside where he had to perform manual labor for many years.

In 1981, Guan started his writing career and published several early works such as "Dry River," "Autumn Stream," and "Folk Music." In 1986, he graduated from the department of literature at the PLA Academy of Arts. In 1991, Guan was granted a master's degree in literature and art from the Lu Xun Literature Institute at Beijing Normal University. In 2000, the movie "Red Sorghum," directed by Zhang Yimou, was adapted from Mo Yan's novel "Family Stories of Red Sorghum" and went on to win the 38th Berlin Film Festival Golden Bear Award.

On Oct.11 of this year, the Nobel Prize in Literature for 2012 was awarded to Mo Yan. The Swedish Academy credited the novelist's skills by calling then "with hallucinatory realism that merges folk tales, history with the contemporary." After that, Mo Yan's book including "Red Sorghum," "Fatigue Beyond Life and Death," "Big Breasts and Wide Hips," and "Frog" became top sellers on the Chinese book market.