Yan Ge (Chinese: 颜歌, pinyin: Yán Gē, born 1984) is the pen name of Chinese writer Dai Yuexing (戴月行, pinyin: Dài Yuèxíng).

Yan Ge
Native name
颜歌
BornDai Yuexing
1984 (age 39–40)
Sichuan, China
OccupationNovelist, writer
LanguageStandard Chinese, Sichuanese, English
NationalityChinese
Alma materSichuan University
Notable worksOur Family

Life and career

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Yan Ge was born Dai Yuexing in December 1984 in the Pixian district of Chengdu.[1] She began writing at the age of ten and her first book was published when she was 17 years old.[2]

Yan completed a PhD in comparative literature at Sichuan University and is the Chair of the China Young Writers Association. Her writing includes substantial amounts of her native Sichuanese, rather than Standard Chinese.[3] People’s Literature (Renmin Wenxue 人民文学) magazine recently chose her – in a list reminiscent of The New Yorker's ‘20 under 40’ – as one of China's twenty future literary masters. In 2012 she was chosen as Best New Writer by the prestigious Chinese Literature Media Prize (华语文学传媒大奖 最佳新人奖). In 2011, she was awarded a visiting scholar position at Duke University.[4] Yan was a guest writer at the Crossing Border Festival in The Hague in November 2012, and has since appeared at numerous literary festivals throughout Europe.[5] She has lived in Dublin with her husband, Daniel, and their child since 2015.[6][7]

Yan has been writing in English in addition to Mandarin and Sichuanese. Her first English book is a 2023 short story collection Elsewhere: stories.[2][8] Reviewer Chelsea Leu wrote

Yan Ge’s English debut is preoccupied with language, its failures, and its relationship to human emotions and the raw reality – the 'food' – of life. ... These stories map out the distance between the head and the gut – the way language can fail to convey the deepest, most visceral facts of life."[8]

Reviewer Sindya Bhanoo wrote that the stories "explore the power of language across the Chinese diaspora to either bring people together or push them apart."[9]

Awards

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Publications

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  • 五月女王 May Queen, 2008 - novel
  • 钟腻哥 Sissy Zhong - short story (translated by Nicky Harman)[11]
  • 白马 White Horse - novella (translated by Nicky Harman)[12]
  • 照妖镜 Demon-Reflecting Mirror- novella[13]
  • 平乐镇伤心故事集 Sad Stories of Pingle Township (5 stories including White Horse and Demon-Reflecting Mirror).[14]
  • 我们家 Our Family, 2013.
    • English translation: The Chilli Bean Paste Clan, translated by Nicky Harman, Balestier Press, 2018; also German and French editions.[15]
  • 异兽志 Record of Strange Beasts, 2006.
  • Elsewhere: stories, 2023 - short stories. Scribner (US) and Faber (UK) ISBN 978-1-9821-9848-0 (published in English)

References

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  1. ^ Duzan, Brigitte. "Yan Ge 颜歌". www.chinese-shortstories.com.
  2. ^ a b "Chinese writer Yan Ge finds solace in creating literary worlds". CBC. 11 February 2022.
  3. ^ "Yan Ge: families, humour, Sichuan, a spicy dish".
  4. ^ Zhong, Na (2018-10-09). "Writing from In-Between: A Conversation with Yan Ge". SupChina. Retrieved 2022-04-26.
  5. ^ "China". Dutchculture | Centre for international cooperation.
  6. ^ Abrahamsen, Eric. "Yan Ge". Paper Republic.
  7. ^ "November 2014: Yan Ge 颜歌 : The Leeds Centre for New Chinese Writing". writingchinese.leeds.ac.uk.
  8. ^ a b Leu, Chelsea (2023-07-12). "Elsewhere by Yan Ge review – a visceral English debut". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-10-22.
  9. ^ Bhanoo, Sindya (2023-09-15). "In Three New Story Collections, Much Is Left Unsaid". New York Times. Retrieved 2023-10-22.
  10. ^ a b "Yan Ge: A Budding Author - All China Women's Federation". www.womenofchina.cn.[dead link]
  11. ^ Abrahamsen, Eric. "Zhong Nige". Paper Republic.
  12. ^ "White Horse - HopeRoad Publishing". www.hoperoadpublishing.com.
  13. ^ "20. Reflecting Teenagers on a Sichuanese Mirror: Yan Ge and her stories from Pingle Township". November 19, 2016.
  14. ^ Abrahamsen, Eric. "Reflecting Teenagers on a Sichuanese Mirror: Yan Ge and her stories from Pingle Township". Paper Republic.
  15. ^ "The Chilli Bean Paste Clan".
  16. ^ Abrahamsen, Eric. "Yan Ge". Paper Republic. Retrieved 2019-12-10.