The Other Voice: International Poetry Nights in Hong Kong, 2009

About

Ahmad Abdul Muti Hijazi one of the most famous Arab poets today was born in Egypt in 1935. He was one of the pioneers who paved the way to free verse back in 1950's which was considered a breakthrough in the history of modern Arabic poetry. Now he is the Editor-in-Chief of 'Ibdaa' - a quarterly literary magazine. He is the head of the poetry committee of the Supreme Council of Culture of Egypt. He has published seven collections of poetry and won many literary prizes. Bei Dao (pen-name of Zhao Zhenkai) was born in Beijing in 1949. In 1978 Bei Dao and Mang Ke co-founded Today Jintian the first unofficial literary journal in China since 1949 and he has been chief editor ever since. Since 1987 he has lived and taught in Europe and the United States. He has won numerous awards and honors among them honorary membership of the Academy of American Arts and Letters. Coral Bracho (poet and translator) was born in Mexico City in 1951. Among her poetry books are: El ser que va a morir (National Poetry award 1981) La voluntad del ambar (1998) Ese espacio ese jardin (Best Book of the year award Xavier Villaurrutia 2004) and Cuarto de hotel (2007). Some of her books and poetry anthologies have been translated to several languages. Eliot Weinberger was born in New York in 1949. His books of literary essays include Works on Paper Outside Stories Karmic Traces An Elemental Thing and most recently Oranges & Peanuts for Sale. The author of a study of Chinese poetry translation 19 Ways of Looking at Wang Wei he is the translator of Unlock by Bei Dao and the editor of The New Directions Anthology of Classical Chinese Poetry and the forthcoming The Rose of Time: Selected and new Poems of Bei Dao. Gary Snyder was born in San Francisco in 1930. He has published sixteen books of poetry and prose including The Gary Snyder Reader (1952-1998) (1999); Mountains and Rivers Without End (1997); No Nature: New and Selected Poems (1993) The Practice of the Wild (1990) Turtle Island (1974) and Myths & Texts (1960). He has received many awards and honors including the Pulitzer Prize the National Book Award the Bollingen Prize and the Bess Hokin Prize and the Levinson Prize from Poetry. Hung Hung is the pen-name of Yen Hung-ya. Born in 1964 in Taiwan he is a graduate of the National Institute of the Arts Theatre Department. He is an artistic and stage director of Dark Eyes Performance Lab which he founded recently. In addition to poetry he writes short fiction essays and theatre criticism. He also served as curator of the Taipei Poetry Festival during 2004-08. Kurt Drawert born near Berlin in 1956 established himself as a writer of poetry above all for which he received the Leonce and Lena Prize the Meran Poetry Prize and the Nikolaus Lenau Prize. The author has also edited a number of anthologies. He is the director of the Centre for Young Literature in Darmstadt. Ye Si (pen-name of Leung Ping-kwan) was born in Hong Kong in 1949. He has published eleven volumes of poems such as Foodscape (1997) Clothink (1998) and Shifting Borders (2009). He also writes some books of fiction and essay. He is the chair professor of comparative literature of the Lingnan University Hong Kong. Liu Wai Tong was born in Guangdong in 1975 is now living in Hong Kong. He is a free-lance writer and a photographer. He has published eight poetry collections as well as some collections of fiction and essay and photography books. Luljeta Lleshanaku was born in Elbasan Albania and studied Literature at the University of Tirana. She is the author of six poetry books and won several literary prizes and honors. She worked as a journalist and editor of culture for many years and she is currently involved in screen-writing in a film project. Ouyang Jianghe was born in Luzhou Sichuan Province in 1956. His works include the collections of poems and criticism such as Through the Glass of Words (1997) Who Leave Who Stay (1997) Standing on the Side of Fiction (2000) and Tears of Things (2008). He is now living in Beijing. Takahashi Mutsuo was born in 1937 in Kitakyushu in the southwestern region of Japan. He has published more than eighty books including twenty-five poetry books. He won numerous awards and honors. He was decorated with the Shijuhosho (Purple Ribbon Medal) in 2000. Wu Yin Ching graduated from the University of Hong Kong and is now Associate Professor in the Language Centre of the Hong Kong Baptist University. She has written eight collections of poetry. Other writings include literary prose and stories for children and youngsters. In the year 2003 she was winner of the Achievement Award (Literature) presented by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council. Zhai Yongming was born in Sichuan China. Her major poetry works over the past decades include Women (1986) Collected Poems of Zhai Yongming (1994) Call it Everything (1997) White songs in Dark Night (1997) and Finally I am Made Insolvent (2002). She currently lives in Chengdu and Beijing.