The Lemon Monkey Approaches

Less than a week now till Rob A Mackenzie and I hit Stoke Newington! I'm hugely excited about this opportunity for us to read with Katy Evans-Bush and Yang Lian. Katy read a great set at the Jekyll and Hyde a week past Sunday.

I first came across Yang Lian when I did some Chinese lit -- in translation, I hasten to add -- at uni. I was impressed with the movement to which he belongs, the misty poets, though we focused on Bei Dao. I also heard Yang Lian read at Edinburgh international book festival a few years ago with his Scottish translators, the Holton brothers. There were some particularly striking Scots translations of some of his work, which are available as the Kettilonia pamphlet. Whaur the Deep Sea Devauls. He'll be reading from his next book, Lee Valley Poems -- his first based on his life as a Londoner.

If you're in or near London, come and join us at Lemon Monkey between 7 pm and 9 pm on Monday 29 June. (Facebook event here.) Meanwhile, here's a taste of Yang Lian, speaking about his book Concentric Circles, courtesy of Bloodaxe:

Yang Lian from Neil Astley on Vimeo.