‘If The Wheat Dies’ Chinese Poetry Book Launch

Global Youth Readers, an international youth reading exchange, initiated by China National Publications Import & Export (Group) Co. Ltd. have launched If the Wheat Dies, a bilingual collection of poetry by Zhou Yaping, a contemporary Chinese poet, acclaimed filmmaker and producer, published by Phoenix Literature and Art Press.

In China Zhou Yaping is a familiar name as a television producer for major TV network China Central Television. Despite his success as a producer, Zhou’s first love has always been poetry. He is an acclaimed poet and has been named Chinese Poet of the Year in Poetry Exploration, he also won the first Eraser, Pioneer Independent Literature Award in China. British poet, J.H. Prynne regards Zhou Yaping as "an experimental avant-garde poet, one of the main representatives of Chinese language poetry". Not one to shy away from international audiences, his poetry has been published in China, the UK and the US.

Zhou Yaping's new collection, If The Wheat Dies is a feast of speech and vision. It is a ground-breaking Chinese and English bilingual poetry collection, which features 100 short poems, some of which were inspired by his travel and filmmaking in Europe, and a collection of poems based on his short film Magicicada.

The online book launch event was a spotlight on contemporary Chinese poetry that included a poetry reading and discussion with Zhou Yaping and his translator Suzanne Zheng, attended by those interested in Chinese culture and publishing and international students of Chinese. There was an introduction by Paul Manfredi, Professor of Chinese at Pacific Lutheran University, author of Modern Poetry in China: A Visual-Verbal Dynamic and the event was hosted by Alicia Liu of Singing Grass.

The event drew international attendees including translators, academics, students from across the UK and others interested in Chinese contemporary poetry - dialling in from different parts of the world including the UK, the US, the Netherlands, Romania and India.

If The Wheat dies published by Phoenix Literature and Art Press will be launched in the UK in Autumn 2022.