I just received the press release for another anthology contemporary Chinese poetry, this one edited by Yang Lian 杨炼 and William Herbert (with Brian Holton and Qin Xiaoyu 秦晓宇 as associate editors) under the title Jade Ladder. It promises to be an exciting collection, and will feature my translations of some of Xi Chuan’s work as well. Click on the image below for more information:

The poetry world needs to have a long discussion about anthologies, especially all the anthologies of contemporary Chinese poetry that have been published recently or which are forthcoming. Compiling an anthology is as complicated as translation, and has similar questions—how do we represent what we’re representing, and to whom? What do we sacrifice, and for what gain? Add to that the fact that too often anthologies of Chinese poetry in English have stood in the way of single-authored collections being published (though this is changing), and things get quite complicated. Nevertheless, since Jade Ladder is published by the UK press Bloodaxe, and aims to showcase “the diversity of Chinese poetry as it renegotiates its relationship with Western modernist and postmodernist poetry, and re-engages with its Classical heritage,” as well as including “publication in exile,” it promises to be a fine counterpoint and complement to the US government-funded Push Open the Window.