Paola Iovene is a specialist of modern Chinese literature and film, with broad interests in translation and media. Her current research focuses on the intersections between literature, labor, and social inequality; the uses of actual locations in cinema; radio literary adaptations; and documentary film. She is the author of Tales of Futures Past: Anticipation and the Ends of Literature in Contemporary China (Stanford UP, 2014) and guest editor of a special issue of positions: Asia critique titled “Cultures of Labor in Contemporary China” (2023). Iovene is Associate Professor in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations and the College at the University of Chicago.