YA Hsien 瘂弦

2017 Visitor
2017 50th Anniversary Guest
  • Asia
  • Eastern Asia
  • Taiwan

Ya Hsien 瘂弦, pen name of Wang Ching-lin 王慶麟 (Taiwan, IWP '67), one of the key Sinophone poets of the late 20th century, began publishing in the early 1950s; a member of the Taiwanese Modernist movement, he also co-founded the journal Epoch Poetry Quarterly. His Abyss was first published in 1968 and expanded in 1971; in 2017 a long-awaited English translation won John Balcom a finalist placement for the PEN Award for Poetry in Translation. In 2013 Ya Hsien was awarded the Zhongkun International Poetry Prize. A documentary about him, A Life That Sings, was released in 2015.

Happening Now

  • We regret the passing, on April 11, 2024, of the distinguished Romanian author and critic Dan Cristea, who served as the editor in chief of the Luceafărul de Dimineață cultural monthly. In addition to being an alum of the 1985 Fall Residency, Cristea received his PhD in Comparative Literature at the University of Iowa.

  • Our congratulations to 1986 Fall Residency writer Kwame Dawes, who has been named the new poet laureate of Jamaica.

  • Congratulations to our colleagues Jennifer Croft and Aron Aji, who are among those serving as judges for the National Book Awards this year, in their case in the category of translated literature.

  • Ranjit Hoskote’s speech at the 2024 Goa Literary Festival addresses the current situation in Gaza.

  • In NY Times, Bina Shah worries about the state of Pakistani—and American—democracy.

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