Yang Zi is the author of a dozen books. After earning a BA in Chinese literature, he lived in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region for nine years and cofounded the literary journal Big Bird. In 1990, he was appointed Vice Alderman of Tahaqi Village. Since 1993 he has lived in the southern coastal city Guangzhou and is now the vice chief editor of the Nan Fang People Weekly. Also known as a dedicated poetry translator, he has introduced the works of Mandelstam, Paul Celan, Fernando Pessoa, Gary Snyder, Charles Simic and a number of other Western poets to Chinese readers.