Yan Ge


Yan Ge is the pen name of Chinese writer Dai Yuexing.

Life and career

Yan Ge was born Dai Yuexing in December 1984 in the Pixian district of Chengdu. She began writing at the age of ten and her first book was published when she was 17 years old.
Yan completed a PhD in comparative literature at Sichuan University and is the Chair of the China Young Writers Association. Her writing includes substantial amounts of her native Sichuanese, rather than Standard Chinese. People's Literature magazine recently chose her – in a list reminiscent of The New Yorker's '20 under 40' – as one of China's twenty future literary masters. In 2012, she was chosen as Best New Writer by the prestigious Chinese Literature Media Prize. In 2011, she was awarded a visiting scholar position at Duke University. Yan was a guest writer at the Crossing Border Festival in The Hague in November 2012, and has since appeared at numerous literary festivals throughout Europe. She has lived in Dublin with her husband, Daniel, and their child since 2015.
Yan has been writing in English in addition to Mandarin and Sichuanese. Her first English book is a 2023 short story collection Elsewhere: stories. Reviewer Chelsea Leu wrote
Reviewer Sindya Bhanoo wrote that the stories "explore the power of language across the Chinese diaspora to either bring people together or push them apart."

Awards

Publications