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Book Title

June Fourth Elegies

Subtitle
Poems
Author 1
Liu Xiaobo; Translated from the Chinese by Jeffrey Yang
Body
Liu Xiaobo has become the foremost symbol of the struggle for human rights in China. He was a leading activist during the Tiananmen Square protests of June 4, 1989, and a prime supporter of Charter 08, the manifesto of fundamental human rights published in 2008. In 2009, Liu was imprisoned for “inciting subversion of state power,” and he is currently serving an eleven-year sentence. He was awarded the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize for “his prolonged non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China.” Liu dedicated his Peace Prize to “the lost souls from the Fourth of June.”

June Fourth Elegies presents Liu’s poems written across twenty years in memory of fellow protestors at Tiananmen Square, as well as poems addressed to his wife, Liu Xia. In this bilingual volume, Liu’s poetry is for the first time published freely in both English translation and in the Chinese original.

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List Price
$26.00
ISBN
ISBN
978-1-55597-610-1
Format
Format
Hardcover
Publication Date
Publication Date
Subject
Subject
Pages
Pages
208
Trim Size
Trim Size
6 x 9
Keynote
The first publication of the poetry of 2010 Nobel Peace Prize Winner Liu Xiaobo, with a Foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama

About the Author

Xiaobo  Liu
Liu Xiaobo was a political activist, literary critic, and writer; he was the author of June Fourth Elegies. Liu was awarded the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize for his “long and nonviolent struggle for fundamental human rights in China.” He died in 2017.
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Jeffrey  Yang
Credit: Meredith Heuer
Jeffrey Yang is the author of Hey, Marfa; Vanishing-Line; and An Aquarium, winner of the PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award. He is the translator of Nobel Peace Prize recipient Liu Xiaobo’s June Fourth Elegies. Yang lives in Beacon, New York.
 

 
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Praise

  • “The reason to read Liu Xiaobo’s poetry is the life he leads outside that poetry: his actions make the straightforwardness and honesty that the poems strive for . . . like an article of faith.”—Boston Review
  • “Liu creates a dialectic that cannot promise a successful outcome but can show the world what it is to be a successful human.”—Washington Independent Review of Books
  • “Published in Chinese alongside the English translation, these poems contain a haunting repetition that mimics the brutality of that day. . . . Though Liu laments a collective loss of memory regarding past events, these verses will stand as witness to the future.”Time Out New York
  • “The highest calling of poetry might be in witness. . . . June Fourth Elegies is a stellar example of this, a work that is an unflinching catalogue of government-induced misery, a testament to the human spirit’s capacity and a creative work of the highest order.”Shelf Awarenessfor Readers
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