Yang Lian
Poet
Poet and co-founder of Independent Chinese PEN Center
This profile is part of a cooperation with Independent Chinese PEN Center. It has been written by Secretary-General Yu Zhang and was first published in From Wang Shiwei to Liu Xiaobo - Prisoners of Literary Inquisition Under Communist Rule in China (1947-2010). It’s part of our ongoing effort to support freedom of speech and human rights.
Yang Lian, a Board member of International PEN, is the prominent Chinese poet. He was born in 1955 in Bern, Switzerland, where his diplomat parents were stationed. He grew up in Beijing and now resides in London. His oeuvre includes eight volumes of poems and two collections of prose. Selections of his work have been translated into over 20 languages and have been published in many countries. In 1999 he was awarded the Italian Flaiano International Prize for Poetry. His collection of poems Where the Sea Stands Still (1999) was recommended for an English translation prize by the British Poetry Association. He has been a judge for the Weimar International Essay Prize Contest and the Voice of Deutschland broadcasting literary contest, an overseas advisor to both the Taipei 2001 International Poetry Festival and the 2001 Berlin International Literature Festival, and a member of the jury for 2006 Lettre Ulysses Award for the Art of Reportage. He co-founded Independent Chinese PEN Centre in 2001.
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