Zhai Yongming

Zhai Yongming is a Chengdu-based writer and installation artist who runs a book and wine bar called White Nights, where she frequently stages poetry readings and other cultural events. Her first collection of poetry, Woman, which appeared in 1988, was a milestone in Chinese feminist writing. A collection of English translations of her poems by Andrea Lingenfelter, entitled The Changing Room, is forthcoming from Zephyr Press. “Biri” was written on the last day of the Almost Island Conference, held in New Delhi February 12–15, 2009, and is translated with the permission of the editors of Today Literary Magazine [Jintian], where the Chinese poem was published in issue no. 86.