In poems and prose texts, Liao Yiwu has repeatedly criticised the Chinese government since the 1980s. Today in the west, the writer and musician is one of the most prominent critical Chinese voices. His works are banned in his homeland.

In 1989 Liao penned a poem about the massacre at Tiananmen Square. It quickly became popular and the writer was given a prison sentence. He starkly recounted his experiences of violence and torture during his imprisonment – in several attempts, as the manuscript was repeatedly confiscated – in his book Für ein Lied und hundert Lieder (2011) [For a Song and a Hundred Songs (2013)].

Once released from prison, Liao found himself isolated from family and colleagues. He scratched together a livelihood with odd jobs and began to conduct interviews with people at the margins of Chinese society: a prostitute, a Feng-Shui master, a street singer and many others – talks that formed the basis of his book Fräulein Hallo und der Bauernkaiser. Chinas Gesellschaft von unten (Ger. 2009), among others.

Continuously under threat of repression, Liao Yiwu managed to flee to Germany via Vietnam in 2011 and has lived in Berlin ever since. The writer has won numerous awards, including the Geschwister-Scholl-Preis in 2011 and the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade in 2012.

Selected works:
Fräulein Hallo und der Bauernkaiser. Chinas Gesellschaft von unten (Ger. 2009)
For a Song and a Hundred Songs (orig.: Für ein Lied und hundert Lieder, 2011, transl. 2013)
Die Kugel und das Opium. Leben und Tod am Platz des Himmlischen Friedens (Ger. 2012)