Forms of Distance

Dao Bei

"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".

About the Author

Bei Dao (the pseudonym means "north island") was born in Beijing in 1949. Educated into the beliefs of Communist China, his subsequent disaffection found its voice in poetry, for which he has been nominated for the Nobel Prize on several occasions. Since 1989 he has lived first in Europe, then in the USA, and finally Hong Kong, where he teaches at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His poetry in English translation includes "The August Sleepwalker" (1988), "Old Snow" (1992), "Forms of Distance" (1994), "Landscape Over Zero" (1998) and "Unlock" (2006). He has also published several collections of essays, including "Midnight's Gate" (2007).

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