Forms of Distance

Forms of Distance is Bei Dao’s second bilingual collection since his enforced exile from China in 1989. Michael Hofmann described the first, Old Snow, as ‘the work of one of the great poets of our time’, and John Cayley wrote in the Times Literary Supplement that ‘in a sense he is the only contemporary Chinese poet who is knowable for the non-specialist … we can hear the maturing poetic voice of a highly talented, individual Chinese writer.’

Bei Dao, pen name of Zhao Zhenkai, was born in Beijing in 1949. Hailed as "the soul of post-Mao poetry" (Yunte Huang) and praised for his "intense lyricism" (Pankaj Mishra), Bei Dao is one of contemporary China's most distinguished poets and the cofounder of the landmark underground literary journal Jintian (Today). He has received numerous international awards for his work, including the Cikada Prize in Sweden, the Golden Wreath Award in Macedonia, the Aragana Poetry Prize in Morocco, the Jeanette Schocken Literary Prize in Germany, the PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award, and the 2nd Yakamochi Medal in Japan; he is also an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Since 2007 he has been the Professor of Humanities at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and currently resides between Hong Kong and Beijing. He acquired U.S. citizenship in 2009. New Directions publishes ten of his books, most recently his autobiography City Gate, Open Up. Bei Dao's poetry has been translated into over thirty languages. David Hinton studied Chinese at Cornell University. His many translations of ancient Chinese poetry have earned wide acclaim for creating compelling English poetry that conveys the texture and density of the originals. He has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship as well as numerous fellowships from The National Endowment for the Arts and The National Endowment for the Humanities. In 1997, his work received the Landon Translation Award from the Academy of American Poets. He lives in East Calais, Vermont. His website is: www.davidhinton.net