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Liao Yiwu (c) Ali Ghandtschi
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Liao Yiwu (also known as Lao Wei), born in 1958, was well known as a poet in China in the 1980s before deliberately deciding for a life as an underground poet and dissident. From 1990 to 1994 he was imprisoned for publishing his long poem Massacre, in which he critices the events on Tian'anmen Square in 1989. Despite horrific abuse in prison he continued to write. After his release, Liao Yiwu was banned from publishing, and finally fled China and went into exile. He now lives in Berlin as a writer and musician and makes appearances all over Europe. His poetry is marked by a dark Surrealism and describes with painful intensity the crimes of the Chinese penal system. His socially critical interview series The Corpse Walker and his report from prison Testimonials are international bestsellers. His committed work has earned him prizes including the Geschwister Scholl Prize and the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade.
Publications (a selection): The Corpse Walker: Real Life Stories: China from the Bottom Up, Pantheon 2008; Testimonials (published in an expanded German translation as Für ein Lied und hundert Lieder: Ein Zeugenbericht aus chinesischen Gefängnissen, S. Fischer Verlag, 2011); God is Red Harper Collins 2011; Poems: The Yellow City (1989); Idol (1989); Massacre (1989)