Yan Li

Yan Li (; 1954–2026) was a Chinese poet, painter, journal editor, and cultural organizer. He was a member of the Stars Art Group, a contemporary Chinese art collective. He was a representative figure of the Misty Poets movement and a member of the literary circle centered on the unofficial journal Jintian (Today). Yan worked across poetry, painting, and fiction, treating them as distinct but related forms of expression.

After moving to New York City in 1985, Yan founded the Chinese-language poetry and art journal First Line (, ) in 1987 and served as its first editor-in-chief. The journal was a platform for contemporary Chinese poetry, translations of American poetry, and visual art, connecting literary and artistic circles in China and abroad. After its original print and online runs ended in the early 2000s, the journal was revived on WeChat in 2018 and returned to print in New York as First Line New York in 2020. the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, and the Long Museum.

Early life and artistic beginnings

Yan was born in Beijing in 1954. In May 1987, he founded the Chinese-language poetry and art journal First Line (, ) and served as its editor-in-chief. His poetry often approached philosophical and social questions with lightness and irony, using brief images, comparisons, and shifts of perspective. English translations of his poems appeared in literary journals including Modern Poetry in Translation, Tupelo Quarterly, and Queen's Quarterly. His 1986 poem "Give It Back to Me" became one of his best-known works.

His later poetry collections included The Moon Within the Body and Sorrow Should Have Grown Up by Now , both published in 2016.

Yan also published fiction and prose. His fiction included New York Is Not Heaven (, 1993), Sleeping with New York (, 1993), and The Highest Funeral (, 1998). A selection of his fiction was published as Selected Fiction of Yan Li in 2024.

Visual art

Yan treated poetry, painting, and fiction as distinct but related forms, choosing among them according to the subject.

Soon after arriving in New York, Yan held a solo exhibition at Sabrina Fung Gallery in 1985. A 1986 review in The New York Times reproduced his painting Growing From Young Plant (1984) as the article's sole illustration. In 1987, his work was shown at the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard University and at Sarah Lawrence College; a review of the latter exhibition in The New York Times reproduced his work Record. His work was also included in the Stars Art Group's tenth-anniversary touring exhibitions in Hong Kong, Taipei, Paris, and Dunkirk in 1989. In 1993, he held a solo exhibition of photography in Beijing. A 2018 retrospective at the Lingang Contemporary Art Museum in Shanghai surveyed his work from 1978 to 2018. From 2009 to 2015, he co-organized the Beijing Mid-Autumn International Poetry Festival at the China Millennium Monument, which featured poets from more than a dozen countries. Beginning in 2018, he served as co-chair of the Flushing Poetry Festival.

Death Yan died in New York City on 24 June 2026 following an illness. 2018 – Contemporary Poetic: My 40 Years: Works of Yan Li, Lingang Contemporary Art Museum, Shanghai.

Awards and honors 2005 – 2004 China Annual Best Poetry Award from Selected Poetry. 2011 – Qinling Literature Prize for the Poetry Chewing Gum series. 2019 – Lifetime Achievement Award marking the thirtieth anniversary of Poetry Reference. 2022 – First prize in the poetry category of the Overseas Chinese Writing Award for 100 Poems by Yan Li.