Post by NZBC on Jun 1, 2008 13:30:14 GMT 12
www.nzepc.auckland.ac.nz/authors/yang/
137 Grafton Rd is a very important address for me in my life. I lived there from July 1989 until August 1993. Grafton Bridge is just next to the road, on the way from my home to Auckland University. During the very first difficult period of exile life, I remember very clearly the view from the bridge: it was the view of that time and the situation. I wrote the poem in 1991 when I was in Berlin, to keep the starting point of my not-yet ended exile journey. (Statement for The New Zealand Herald, 20 October 2001)
Since 1994, London has been what Yang calls ‘Central Station?for extensive travel in Europe, the US and Australia. His books were banned at the end of 1989 on the Chinese mainland but in recent years he has made frequent visits to China and his work has been published there (though not in Beijing). He remains an exile, sticking to a frugal lifestyle, and striving for continuous transcendence in the spiritual aspects of living.
Yang’s works are primarily poems and prose, though he is also noted for his literary and arts critiques. 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.
Yang has actively participated in international literature, arts and academic activities and is widely regarded as one of the major voices representing modern Chinese literature. 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. In addition to serving as writer-in-residence for Taipei City in Taiwan in late 2000, he has been a judge for the Weimar International Essay Prize Contest and the Voice of Deutschland broadcasting literary contest and was an overseas advisor to both the Taipei 2001 International Poetry Festival and the 2001 Berlin International Literature Festival.
Yang Lian currently lives in London and continues his writing career. He is married to the novelist Liu Yo yo.
nzepc notes
October 2001
137 Grafton Rd is a very important address for me in my life. I lived there from July 1989 until August 1993. Grafton Bridge is just next to the road, on the way from my home to Auckland University. During the very first difficult period of exile life, I remember very clearly the view from the bridge: it was the view of that time and the situation. I wrote the poem in 1991 when I was in Berlin, to keep the starting point of my not-yet ended exile journey. (Statement for The New Zealand Herald, 20 October 2001)
Since 1994, London has been what Yang calls ‘Central Station?for extensive travel in Europe, the US and Australia. His books were banned at the end of 1989 on the Chinese mainland but in recent years he has made frequent visits to China and his work has been published there (though not in Beijing). He remains an exile, sticking to a frugal lifestyle, and striving for continuous transcendence in the spiritual aspects of living.
Yang’s works are primarily poems and prose, though he is also noted for his literary and arts critiques. 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.
Yang has actively participated in international literature, arts and academic activities and is widely regarded as one of the major voices representing modern Chinese literature. 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. In addition to serving as writer-in-residence for Taipei City in Taiwan in late 2000, he has been a judge for the Weimar International Essay Prize Contest and the Voice of Deutschland broadcasting literary contest and was an overseas advisor to both the Taipei 2001 International Poetry Festival and the 2001 Berlin International Literature Festival.
Yang Lian currently lives in London and continues his writing career. He is married to the novelist Liu Yo yo.
nzepc notes
October 2001