Spotlight on Contemporary Chinese Poetry
“Zhou Yaping is…an experimental avant-garde poet, one of the main representatives of Chinese language poetry ”
"Global Youth Readers", an international youth reading exchange, initiated by China National Publications Import & Export (Group) Co. Ltd. has launched If the Wheat Dies, a bilingual collection of poetry by Zhou Yaping, a contemporary Chinese poet, acclaimed filmmaker and producer, published by Phoenix Literature and Art Press.
The event was a spotlight on contemporary Chinese poetry, including the launch of If the Wheat Dies. It is the second international event for Global Youth Readers following the success of the London Book Fair debut.
If the Wheat Dies launch included an online poetry reading and discussion with Zhou Yaping and his translator Suzanne Zheng, attended by those interested in Chinese culture and publishing and international students of Chinese. There was an introduction by Paul Manfredi, Professor of Chinese at Pacific Lutheran University, author of Modern Poetry in China: A Visual-Verbal Dynamic and the event was hosted by Alicia Liu of Singing Grass.
Chinese language poet Zhou Yaping's new collection, If The Wheat Dies is a feast of speech and vision. It is a ground-breaking Chinese and English bilingual poetry collection, which features 100 short poems, some of which were inspired by his travel and filmmaking in Europe, and a collection of poems written based on his short film Magicicada.
The event has drawn international attendees including translators, academic, students from across the UK and others interested in Chinese contemporary poetry - dialling in from different parts of the world including the UK, US, the Netherland, Romania and India.
In China Zhou Yaping is a familiar name as a television producer for major TV network China Central Television. Despite his success as a producer Zhou’s first love has always been poetry. He is an acclaimed poet and has been named Chinese Poet of the Year in Poetry Exploration, and he won the first Eraser, Pioneer Independent Literature Award in China. His poetry has been published in China, the UK and the US.
If The Wheat dies, translated by Suzanne Zheng, Jeffrey Twitchell-Waas and Paul Manfredi, published by Phoenix Literature and Art Press will be launched in the UK in Autumn 2022.
"Global Youth Readers" is an international youth reading exchange initiated by China National Publications Import & Export (Group) Co., Ltd. Through carrying out rich and diverse reading and cultural exchange activities, it aims to promote the exchange of ideas and mutual learning among young people. The Youth Readers Exchange · UK - was first launched at the London Book Fair in April 2022, followed by the Spotlight on Contemporary Poetry event in October, and it will hold reading exchange events including the UK/China Poetry Night at the Beijing International Book Fair in November 2022.
For full details of the online Poetry Reading Club, please see the video below:
