You will be joining Yu Yoyo, one of the most important young voices in contemporary Chinese poetry, and translator Dave Haysom for a workshop on Chinese-English translation.

This workshop is part of a tour marking the publication of a new collection of Yoyo’s poetry in English. My Tenantless Body is translated by Dave Haysom and UK poet AK Blakemore, and published by the Poetry Translation Centre.

Regarded as a representative of the post-‘90s generation, known for her mature voice and subtle treatment of modern femininity, Yu Yoyo’s poetry has a lithe, darting brilliance, jumping from arresting idea to arresting idea with electrifying intent. She has created a poetic language which has seemingly never not known the internet – its caustic, flat wit; its complete lack of punctuation; its blunt delivery and its incredible linguistic speed.

Dave Haysom is a literary translator and editor who has been living in Beijing since 2007. He is joint managing editor of Pathlight, a quarterly journal of Chinese literature in translation, and helped launch “Read Paper Republic” in 2015, a year-long initiative to publish one translation online every week. He has written articles and essays on contemporary Chinese literature for publications such as Words Without Borders and China Dialogue.

This event is presented by Manchester Metropolitan University in partnership with the Poetry Translation Centre and Manchester Central Library.