Yang Lian's A Tower Built Downwards shortlisted for the PEN Heaney Prize 2024
Chinese poet Yang Lian's 2023 collection A Tower Built Downwards, translated by Brian Holton, is on the shortlist for the inaugural PEN Heaney Prize. The six-strong shortlist was announced today, 5 November 2024.
Launched in 2024, the PEN Heaney Prize recognises a single volume of poetry, published in the UK or Ireland, of outstanding literary merit that engages with the impact of cultural or political events on human conditions or relationships.
The inaugural PEN Heaney Prize has been judged by poets Nick Laird, Paula Meehan and Shazea Quraishi, with Catherine Heaney joining them as non-voting Chair and representing the Estate of Seamus Heaney.
The judging panel commented:
‘Yang Lian’s A Tower Built Downwards, impeccably transported from the Chinese by Brian Holton, offers us a clear lens on the lived reality of a haunted world of exile and displacement. Steeped in classical Chinese poetry, with a spirited understanding of historical forces, Yang offers us elegy as a sublime art in a fallen world.’
Zoe Sadler, Events and Prizes Manager at English PEN, said:
'The surprising, distinct, and deeply personal ways in which each of these six poets engages with the impact of cultural or political events on the human condition reflect both the expansive creative potential of this type of poetry and the judges’ thoughtful approach to their task. It’s incredibly exciting to present such an ambitious inaugural shortlist.'
The winner of the inaugural PEN Heaney Prize will be announced on 2 December 2024, 7pm, at a ceremony held at the Great Hall, Queen’s University Belfast, in partnership with the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen’s. Tickets to the ceremony are free and are available to book here.
Details of the full shortlist are here.
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Before and since his enforced exile from China in 1989, Yang Lian has been one of the most innovative and influential poets Chinese poets. Widely hailed in America and Europe as a highly individual voice in world literature, he has been translated into many languages. His poetry has been published by Bloodaxe Books since 1999, all translated (or co-translated) by Brian Holton. Yang Lian was awarded the International Nonino Prize in 2012 and the Zbigniew Herbert International Literary Award in 2024.
A Tower Built Downwards is rooted in his living experience of the historical retrogression of Hong Kong, the disaster of Covid-19, the global spiritual crisis, as well as his personal sadness at events such as the deaths of his father and brother. It is translated by Brian Holton, who began a continuing working relationship with Yang Lian in 1992. The cover Ai Weiwei designed for Yang Lian features CCTV cameras and chains made of gold stretching around the whole book, across French flaps and then continuing inside the front and back covers, becoming an extraordinary visual metaphor for the book’s content. Ai Weiwei also wrote the introduction to A Tower Built Downwards.
Translations of Yang Lian's poetry include five collections with Bloodaxe, Where the Sea Stands Still (1999), Concentric Circles (2005), Lee Valley Poems (2009), Narrative Poem (2017) and A Tower Built Downwards (2023), as well as his long poem Yi (Green Integer, USA, 2002), Anniversary Snow (Shearsman, 2019), and Riding Pisces: Poems from Five Collections (Shearsman, 2008), a compilation of earlier work. He is co-editor with W.N. Herbert of Jade Ladder: Contemporary Chinese Poetry (Bloodaxe Books, 2012). Both Where the Sea Stands Still and Narrative Poem are Poetry Book Society Recommended Translations. A Tower Built Downwards won an English PEN Award and is shortlisted for the inaugural PEN Heaney Prize in 2024.
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For digital or print review copies of A Tower Built Downwards, please email Christine Macgregor at Bloodaxe Books: publicity@bloodaxebooks.com.
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REVIEW COVERAGE
Under the Radar, Issue 33, also online 11 April 2024
‘An ambitious and original collection that charts the poet’s emotional landscape and experience with exile, A Tower Built Downwards offers the reader a door to enter and experience the complexity and the ineradicable nature of memory, and the redeeming power of poetic dwelling and language.’ – Jennifer Wong, Under the Radar
https://ninearchespress.blogspot.com/2024/04/would-his-hair-be-act-of-violence.html
Modern Poetry in Translation, Winter 2023
‘To say that this book is ‘only’ political, would however be doing Yang Lian a massive disservice. The poems reference themselves, each other, and a myriad of elements, forming a Joycean web of intertextuality. A Tower Built Downwards is the transgression of language … Brian Holton’s translation is a masterpiece…’. – Jenny He, Modern Poetry in Translation
Long Poem Magazine, online 3 May 2023
‘At the heart of the collection is the long poem ‘A Tower Built Downwards’ from which the volume takes its title. It’s a sombre poem of great power, reprising many of the themes of Yang’s work.’ – Simon Collings, Long Poem Magazine
Read in full on the Long Poem Magazine website here.
REVIEW IN THE GUARDIAN
The Guardian, 1 April 2023
'In exile from China since 1989’s Tiananmen Square massacre, Yang Lian is a writer of world significance; his admirers include Ai Weiwei, who designed the cover of his latest book. Its title evokes the exile’s backwards struggle to construct belonging. It also summarises Yang’s profound, distinctive verse, which clothes ideas and feelings with details from the lived world. Brilliantly translated by Brian Holton, this substantial collection revisits the poet’s personal China, particularly honouring his late father.' – Fiona Sampson, The Guardian (Best recent poetry round-up)
Read Fiona Sampson's review in full in The Guardian of 1 April 2023 here.
Poetry Book Society Bulletin, Spring 2023
‘With an introduction and cover by Ai Weiwei, this is Yang Lian’s twelfth collection with his long-term translator, Brian Holton. An important poet of the Misty School (banned in China), his poems “grow in the direction of both life and death” (Ai Weiwei), dwelling on the pandemic in Wuhan and the erosion of democracy in Hong Kong. Containing poems rich in image and metaphor, this masterful translation won a PEN Translates award.’ – Shash Trevett, Poetry Book Society Bulletin, Spring 2023
US ONLINE POEM FEATURE
The Markaz Review, online 4 April 2023
Two poems from A Tower Built Downwards are featured on the US international cultural website The Markaz Review, accompanied by an introductory video by Yang Lian. The poems featured are ‘Researching Evil’ and ‘Root’.
https://themarkaz.org/yang-lian/
Read a sample:
JOINT ONLINE LAUNCH EVENT ON WORLD POETRY DAY, 21 MARCH 2023
Bloodaxe Books hosted an online launch reading by David Harsent and Yang Lian celebrating the publication of their new poetry books with John Kittmer and Brian Holton.
John Kittmer introduced David Harsent reading his new versions of Yannis Ritsos from A Broken Man in Flower and then Yang Lian (in Morocco) read in Chinese from his new book A Tower Built Downwards in tandem with Brian Holton reading his English translations, followed by a discussion with the host, Bloodaxe editor Neil Astley.
This multi-lingual Bloodaxe launch event was streamed on YouTube Live and is now available to watch on YouTube or via the video below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zP-Y3THlVAk
[05 November 2024]
