Alai

Alai, a Tibetan writer whose real name is Yang Yongrui, was born in 1959 in Barkam, Sichuan. A leading contemporary Chinese author, he serves as vice chairman of the China Writers Association and chairman of the Sichuan Writers Association. His representative works include the novel Red Poppies, winner of the fifth Mao Dun Literature Prize, as well as Hollow Mountain, King Gesar, The Book of Clouds, and Mushroom Circle; his works have been translated into more than twenty languages. Twenty of his works are included here, spanning classic fiction, essays, modern poetry, and social novels, including Red Poppies, the Jicun Epic series, Mushroom Circle, Starting from the Suomo River, and the essay collection I Only Know What Man Is. Rooted in Tibetan life and historical memory, his writing explores social change and human nature in a quiet, poetic style.