Yang Lian

Yang Lian is one of China’s foremost contemporary poets in exile. Born in Switzerland, he grew up in China and now lives in London. Lian is known for his poem sequences and long poems, which display a profound understanding of, and creative links with, classical Chinese poetry. He has published thirteen volumes of poetry, two volumes of prose, and one volume of essays, including the works Where the Sea Stands Still (1999), Riding Pisces (2008), and Lee Valley Poems (2009). His work has been translated into more than twenty-five languages and has won numerous awards. In 2017, his autobiographical book-length poem Narrative Poem won the English PEN Translates Award. He was elected a board member of PEN International in 2008 and 2011. Lian has been a DAAD fellow in Berlin (1991–92) and a fellow of Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin (2012–13). He is a guest professor at four Chinese universities. His latest book in German translation is Konzentrische Kreise (Concentric circles), published by Hanser Verlag in 2013.

As of January 2019