Born in 1990, Sichuanese poet Yu Yoyo had already begun to earn critical attention before she turned sixteen, publishing dozens of poems in Poetry, Poetry Monthly and other prestigious publications in China. She studied business management and accounting in university, but never gave up on her long-standing passion for poetry and finally embraced her life’s calling upon graduation. She is now seen as a representative voice among the post-90’s generation, especially known for her mature voice and subtle treatment of modern femininity. Her collection Seven Years was published in 2012, and she currently lives in Chengdu.
Yu Yoyo’s poetry has a lithe, darting brilliance, her language does not waste time bedding itself in, or explaining itself to you; but simply jumps from arresting idea to arresting idea with electrifying intent. It is in this caustic, sharp movement that Yu forms her poetics, one which is crucially and importantly a poetics of youth. Yu, thoroughly a ‘millennial’, 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.
The Poetry Translation Centre is delighted to present a collection of Yu Yoyo’s work, My Tenantless Body. The second bilingual book of our World Poet Series, the original Chinese sits side by side with new English translations made by translator Dave Haysom and the award-winning poet Amy K Blakemore. Accompanying the publication, Yoyo will be on tour in the UK in July where she will read and be in discussion at events with both Amy and Dave.
AK Blakemore is the author of two full-length collections: Humbert Summer (Eyewear, 2015) and Fondue (Offord Road Books, 2018). Her work has been appeared in magazines and journals including Poetry London, Ambit and Magma, and has been anthologised in Bloodaxe’s Voice Recognition: 21 Poets for the 21st Century, Stop/Sharpening/Your/Knives and The Best of British Poetry 2015. She is shortlisted for the Lebury Forte 2019 prize, and was a winner of Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award 2007 and 2008. AK Blakemore lives and works in London.
Dave Haysom is a literary translator and editor who has been living in Beijing since 2007. He first started publishing translations online at spittingdog.net in 2012. In 2014 he became joint managing editor of Pathlight, a quarterly journal of Chinese literature in translation, and in 2015 he helped launch “Read Paper Republic”, a year-long initiative to publish one translation online every week. He has also written articles and essays on contemporary Chinese literature for publications such as Words Without Borders and China Dialogue.
