Words from the Fire

Born in 1961, Jidi Majia belongs to China's Yi ethnic minority group, living in Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province. He graduated from Southwest Nationalities University, in Chengdu, and came to national attention when his book of poems Song of My First Love won the Third China National Poetry Prize in 1988. Since then, his reputation as a poet has spread worldwide. His work has been translated into over twenty languages and published in over thirty countries. The most recent of his many international awards are the 2017 Bucharest Poetry Prize, the 2017 Ianicius Prize of Poland, and Lifetime Achievement Award of Xu Zhimo Poetry Prize from King's College Cambridge. He has served as Vice President and Member of Secretariat of the China Writers Association and vice-president of the All-China Youth Federation; he is currently vice-governor of Qinghai Province.