Yu Ouyang Yu Ouyang i(A19154 works by) (a.k.a. 欧阳昱; Ouyang Yu)
Also writes as: Richard O'Young ; Bin Bin ; Zuo Yu ; Ouyang Xiu ; 'Ouyang Malley'
Born: Established: 1955 Huangzhou,
c
China,
c
East Asia, South and East Asia, Asia,
;
Gender: Male
Arrived in Australia: Apr 1991
Heritage: Chinese
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BiographyHistory

Ouyang Yu, now based in Melbourne, came to Australia in early 1991 and, by early 2022, has published 138 books of poetry, fiction, non-fiction, literary translation and literary criticism in the English and Chinese languages. He also edits Australia’s only Chinese literary journal, Otherland (since late 1996). His noted books include his award-winning novels, The Eastern Slope Chronicle (2002) and The English Class (2010), his collections of poetry, Songs of the Last Chinese Poet (1997), New and Selected Poems (Salt Publishing, 2004) and The Kingsbury Tales: A Complete Collection (2012), his translations in Chinese, of The Female Eunuch (1991), The Ancestor Game (1996), The Man Who Loved Children (1998, new edition 2014), The Shock of the New (2003, new edition 2019), The Fatal Shore (2014) and Nothing if not Critical (2016), his book of literary criticism, such as Chinese in Australian Fiction: 1888-1988 (Cambria Press, 2008) and his history book in Chinese, A History of Literary Exchange between Australia and China (Showwe Publishing, Taiwan, 2016).

Ouyang’s poetry has been included in the Best Australian Poetry collections for 9 times from 2004 to 2016, including his poetry translations from the Chinese in 2012 and 2013, and has been included in some of the major Australian collections, such as The Penguin Anthology of Australian Poetry (2009) and The Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature (2010) as well as The Turnrow Anthology of Contemporary Australian Poetry (2014).

In 2003, his first novel, The Eastern Slope Chronicle, was shortlisted for NSW Premier’s Literary Award and won the SA Arts Award for Innovation in Fiction in 2004.

In 2010, his second novel, The English Class (Transit Lounge), was named one of the Best Books of 2010 in Australian Book Review and The Age as well as the Sydney Morning Herald. This novel has since won the Community Relations Award in the 2011 NSW Premier’s Literature Award, and was short-listed for Christina Stead Fiction Award in the 2011 NSW Premier’s Literature Award,the 2011 Western Australia Premier’s Literature Award, the 2011 Queensland Premier’s Literature Award and the Melbourne Prize (in 2012). His third English novel, Loose: A Wild History, supported with a grant by Arts Victoria in 2000 and released in August 2011 by Wakefield Press, forms the Yellow Town Trilogy, together with his first, The Eastern Slope Chronicle, and his second, The English Class.

When Loose: A Wild History was published, one Australian critic said she would recommend Ouyang Yu as one of the three nominees for the Nobel Prize in Literature, ‘This is because I think that (along with Brian Castro and Gerald Murnane) Yu is a possible candidate for a Nobel Prize in Literature’: http://anzlitlovers.com/2011/12/18/loose-by-ouyang-yu/

His book of bilingual poetry, Self Translation (2012), short-listed for NSW Premier’s Translation Award in 2013, and a novel, Diary of a Naked Official (2014), were both published by Transit Lounge. His book of Chinese poetry, yongju yixiang (Permanently Resident in a Strange Country), was published in China in June 2016 by Zhejiang Literature and Arts Publishing House.

Ouyang Yu was nominated one of the Top 100 Most Influential Melbournians for the year 2011 as well as the Top 10 most influential writers of Chinese origin in the Chinese diaspora.

He was the finalist for the Best Writing Award in Melbourne Prize for Literature in 2012, and he also won an Honour Prize (for complete works) in Naji Naaman's literary prizes 2013 (visit www.najinaaman.org for more info).

In July 2014, The Fatal Shore he translated into Chinese won Book Award for Translation, awarded by the Australia-China Council, and, in 2016, he won a special award from Australia-China Council for his contribution to Australian Studies in China between 2000 and 2016, for ‘his contributions to Australian Studies in China through major translations and original works of scholarship’.

His translation in English of Chinese poetry, titled, Breaking New Sky: Contemporary Poetry from China, was shortlisted for the Multicultural NSW Early Career Translator Prize in 2015.

His poetry book, Fainting with Freedom, was shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s Award in 2016.

He was the ‘Siyuan Scholar’ and professor of English at Shanghai University of International Business and Economics, China, from late 2012 to May 2019.

In 2016, he won an Australia Council grant for writing a book of bilingual poetry, Flag of Permanent Defeat, which was published by Puncher & Wattmann in 2019.

His English translation of 4 Chinese poets in 4 books was published in April, 2019, by Puncher & Wattmann as well.

He was awarded a major Australia Council award for writing a novel in January 2019, with the result that the novel has been written.

On April 30th, 2019, the announcement was made that Ouyang Yu was one of the top ten poets in China for 2018, selected by the Xiron Poetry Club, part of the Beijing Xiron Books Ltd., established in 2015, the most important and influential private publishing company in China, and on September 18, 2020, he was once again nominated one of the top ten poets in China for 2019 by the Xiron Poetry Club.

On 28 November 2020, it was announced by ACAA, Australia China Alumni Association, that he won the honour of the Alumni of the Year in 2020.

From January to September 2020, he has published two collections of English poetry, Living After Death (MPU) and Terminally Poetic (Ginninderra Press), three poetry books of translation in English (Puncher & Wattmann), and a number of Chinese books.

Ouyang’s work has been translated into Danish, Swedish, Polish, Spanish, Russian, Kazakh, Vietnamese and Catalan.

His book of poetry, Terminally Poetic, won the Judith Wright Calanthe Award for a Poetry Collection in the 2021 Queensland Literary Awards. He was also shortlisted for the Melbourne Prize in 2021 and he won the Fellowship awarded by the Australia Council for the Arts in late 2021.

Ouyang translated A coach heading towards the provinces by Xifeng Yedu.

Ouyang maintains a website at www.huangzhouren.com.

Exhibitions

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Most Referenced Works

Notes

  • Author writes in these languages:ENGLISH, CHINESE
  • Additional Works (Essays Outside Scope):

    • 'Disappearing for the Camera: On Liu Bolin’s Photography of Disappearances', in Liu Bolin/Camouflage 刘勃麟伪装, Ballarat International Foto Biennale, in 2019, pp. 29 and 31 [English text] and pp. 25 and 27 [Chinese text].
    • Introductions and annotations by Ouyang Yu, in Chinese, to such writers as Francis Bacon, with his ‘Of Studies’, intro. p. 1 and anno. pp. 4-6, Joseph Addison, with his ‘Sunday in the country’, intro. pp. 30-1, and anno. pp. 35-37, Oliver Goldsmith, with his ‘National Prejudices’, intro. pp. 54-55 and anno. pp. 60-61, William Cobbett, with his ‘A shooter’, intro. pp. 62-3, and anno. pp. 66-67, Charles Lamb, with his ‘The convalescent’, intro. pp. 68-9, and anno. pp. 75-78, William Hazlitt, with ‘On familiar style’, intro. pp. 79-80, and anno. pp. 89-95, Thomas de Quncey, with his ‘On the Knocking at the Gate in Macbeth’, intro. p. 96, and anno. pp. 103-105, Robert Louis Stevenson, with his ‘The woods and the Pacific’, intro. p. 106 and anno. pp. 110-111, Alfred North Whitehead, with his ‘Universities and Their Function’, intro. p. 112 and anno. pp. 117-119, Edmund Verral Lucas, with his ‘The town week’, intro. p. 120, and anno. pp. 125-127, Winston Churchill, with his ‘I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat’, intro. pp. 141-2, and anno. pp. 145-6, Bertrand Russell, ‘What I have lived for’, intro. pp. 157-8 and anno. pp. 160-161, Gilbert Keith Chesterton, ‘A defence of detective stories’, intro. p. 162, and anno. pp. 166-9, William Somerset Maugham, ‘Lucidity, simplicity, euphony’, intro. pp. 170-1, and anno. pp. 182-7, Robert Lynd, with his ‘The vice of punctuality’, intro. p. 188 and anno. pp. 194-5, Virginia Woolf, with her ‘The death of the moth’, intro. pp. 214-5, and anno. pp. 219-221, Alexander Southerland Neil, with his ‘Punishment never cures anything’, intro. p. 230 and anno. pp. 240-4, Aldous Huxley, with his ‘The beauty industry’, intro. pp. 245-6 and anno. pp. 252-5, John Boynton Priestley, intro. p. 256, and anno. pp. 258-9, Wystan Hugh Auden, with his ‘Work, labour, and play’, intro. pp. 383-4, and anno. pp. 287-7, in Selected Readings in English Essays, edited by Huang Yuanshen, in a new edition, and published by Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, in 1996.
  • Additional Works (Original Poems):

    In addition to works individually indexed on AustLit, Ouyang Yu has also released the following works:

    • ‘The Quongs’, #11, by Ouyang Yu, published in Project 366, at: http://project365plus.blogspot.com.au/2016/08/ouyang-yus-quongs.html
    • ‘Ward’, #10, by Ouyang Yu, published in Project 366, at: http://project365plus.blogspot.com.au/2016/08/ouyang-yu-10-ward.html
    • ‘They left’, #9, by Ouyang Yu, published in Project 366, at: http://project365plus.blogspot.com.au/2016/08/ouyang-yu-9-they-left.html
    • ‘The tree’, #8, by Ouyang Yu, published in Project 366, at: http://project365plus.blogspot.com.au/2016/08/ouyang-yu-8-tree.html
    • ‘Australian-bashing’, #7, by Ouyang Yu, published in Project 366, at: http://project365plus.blogspot.com.au/2016/08/ouyang-yu-7-australia-bashing.html
    • ‘Done’, #6, by Ouyang Yu, published in Project 366, at: http://project365plus.blogspot.com.au/2016/08/ouyang-yu-6.html
    • ‘Like’, #5, by Ouyang Yu, published in Project 366, at: http://project365plus.blogspot.com.au/2016/08/ouyang-yu-5-like.html
    • ‘Pauline Hanson: Multiply Translated’, #4, by Ouyang Yu, published in Project 366, at: http://project365plus.blogspot.com.au/2016/08/ouyang-yu-4-pauline-hanson-multiply.html
    • ‘Bad Translation (2)’, #2, by Ouyang Yu, published in Project 366, at: http://project365plus.blogspot.com.au/2016/08/ouyang-yus-bad-translation-2.html
    • ‘Bad Translation’, #1, by Ouyang Yu, published in Project 366, at: http://project365plus.blogspot.com.au/2016/08/ouyang-yu-1-bad-translation.html
    • six Chinese poems under a general title, ‘bei tiankong zhebi de ren’ [被天空遮蔽的人](One Concealed by the Skies): respectively, ‘shenye yuji’ [深夜雨霁] (Rain stopped late at night), ‘yige xiazi geiwo suanming’ [一个瞎子给我算命] (A blind fortune-teller tells me that), ‘ao xiao liya’ [澳小利亚] (Aus[mall]tralia), ‘tou’ [头] (Head), ‘zhebi’ [遮蔽] (Concealed), and ‘100 duonian hou’ [100多年后] (In a 100 years), all published in Yunjian Arts and Literature [云间文艺], No. 3, 2016, pp. 64-66.
    • six Chinese poems, titled, ‘feizhou’ [非洲](Africa); ‘Bach’; ‘27’; ‘Andi de hansheng’ [安迪的鼾声](Andy’s Snoring Sound); ‘baokuo’ [包括](Included); and ‘weixin’ [微信](We Chat), published in Pujiang Literature [浦江文学], No. 5, Spring issue, 2018, pp. 38-41.
    • 'Bad English' (poem), Voice & Verse, no. 39-40, 2018, p.9.
    • ‘Translator’s heart carving an insect’ (Part 246), (an essay with a Chinese title, yi xin diao chong), Pacific Times(Chinese title: dayang shibao), 16/3/2018, p. A13.
    • 'Translator’s heart carving an insect’ (Part 245), (an essay with a Chinese title, yi xin diao chong), Pacific Times(Chinese title: dayang shibao), 9/3/2018, p. A13.
    • ‘Translator’s heart carving an insect’ (Part 244), (an essay with a Chinese title, yi xin diao chong), Pacific Times (Chinese title: dayang shibao), 23/2/2018, p. A12.
    • 'Tanshi duihua lu jiantan yi sha' (《谈诗对话录兼谈伊沙》) [ A Self-dialogue about Poetry and Yi Sha], published in Hong Kong, in Qianshao (《前哨》) [Front Post], December 1998, pp. 112-4.
    • '[Untitled]' (first line: 'I hate spring'], Narcissus [ANU] no. 10, 1994, p.6.
    • five Chinese poems, titled ‘ershiqi sui’ [二十七岁](27 Years of Age), ‘pangde shuo’ [庞德说] (Pound Seth), ‘shijie wenxue’ [世界文学](World Literature),  ‘jiushi’ [旧事](Things old), ‘huiqu zaishuo’[回去再说](We’ll talk about it when we go back), published in An Anthology of Pioneering Chinese Poetry [中国先锋诗歌年鉴], 2017, pp. 557-565.
    • one Chinese poem, titled, ‘Xue’, published in Good Poems under Heaven (天下好詩), edited by Tang Ruibing, published by Chengdu Times Press, 2017, p. 126.
    • 2 Chinese poems, titled, ‘chezhan’ [车站](At the bus-stop), p. 100, and ‘xingqiliu shangwu de sanbu’ [星期六上午的散步] (A walk on a Saturday morning), p. 157, by Ouyang Yu and published in An Anthology of Contemporary City Poems in China [中国当代城市诗典], Shanghai Literature and Arts Publishing House, 2018.
    • 1 Chinese poem, titled, ‘gudu de nanren’ [孤独的男人](The solitary man)by Ouyang Yu and published in Collected Cross-Strait Poetry in 21st Century [21世纪两岸诗歌鉴藏] (3 volumes), East Publishing Centre, 2019, Vol. 3, p. 615.
    • ‘Zhao Baokang’s Encounter Series’ (赵葆康的“邂逅系列),published in Art Feelings(艺术印象)in Beijing, No. 31, March 2019, pp. 7-10.
    • 6 Chinese poems, ‘meng’ [Dream] (梦); ‘“haiyou santian, yiqie douhua bianyang”’ [Three days to go before everything changes] (还有三天,一切都会变样); ‘libie qian de yewan’ [Night before the Departure] (离别前的夜晚);  ‘suixiang’ [Random thoughts] (随想); ‘liming’ [Dawn] (黎明); and ‘mingtian’ [Tomorrow] (明天); in a sequence titled, ‘xie zai biye zhiji’ [Written on Graduation] (写在毕业之际), published in Qingnian Wenxue [Youth Literature](青年文学), June 1998, pp. 77-78.
    • 2 poems, ‘4.22pm’ and ‘8.20am’, in Prosopisia, No. 1, 2019, p. 22.
    • 7 Chinese poems, titled, ‘sheng’ [声](Sound); ‘na duan hua’ [那段话](The Remark); ‘Genre’; ‘guojia’ [国家](Nation); ‘sanbu: sanqu de san, budiao de bu’ [散步:散曲的散,步调的步](Walking, for non-dramatic songs, for footsteps); ‘jingke’ [荆轲]; and ‘chun’[春](spring), published in Pujiang Literature [浦江文学], No. 10, Summer issue, 2019, pp. 9-11.
    • Eleven poems, “houwei zishu” (The Rear Guard's Statement) [后卫自述], “Gun” (Stick) [棍], “hao yu huai” (Good and Bad) [好与坏], “hetong gushi” (Story of a Contract) [合同故事], “hou de jingli” (Experience of the Post) [后的经历], “皮绊” (Skip Stumbling) [皮绊], “peng long paofeng” (Cooking the Dragon and Stewing the Pheonix) [烹龙炮凤], “Play”, “qiguai de ganjue” (Strange Feelings) [奇怪的感觉], “qing yu zhong” (Light and Heavy) [轻与重], “quxian” (Curves) [曲线], in Zhong Dao (ed), shi cankao (Poem Reference), No. 21, February 2003, pp. 27-31.
    • “gaobie hanyu: 21 shiji xinhuaren de chu lu?” (Saying goodbye to the Chinese language: a way out for the new Chinese in the 21st century?) [《告别汉语:二十一世纪新华人的出路》], Chinese paper presented at “Kaihua-jieguo zai Haiwai: An International Conference on the Literatures of the Chinese Diaspora”, San Francisco, California, Nov. 28-Dec 1, 2002, and published in 《新语丝》:http://www.xys.org/xys/netters/psi4/ouyang.txt 
    • 6 Chinese poems, titled, ‘zheshi shi ma? Zheshi hai ma?’ [这是诗吗?这是海吗?](Is this poetry? Is this ocean?), pp. 68-71; ‘sheng’ [声] (Sound), pp. 71-72; ’38 du de xiawu’ [38度的下午](Afternoon, 38 degrees celsius), pp. 72-73; ‘guojia’ [国家](Country), p. 74, ‘sanbu: sanqu de san, budiao de bu’ [散步:散曲的散,步调的步](Walking, for music, for steps), pp. 74-76, and ‘jingli’ [精力] (Energy), pp. 76-77, all by Ouyang Yu and published in An Anthology of Avant-garde Chinese Poetry (The 2018 Volume) [中国先锋诗歌年鉴——2018卷], published by Chinese Youth Publishing House in Beijing in 2018.
    • 6 Chinese poems, titled, ‘xi bian wei’ [细鞭尾] (Fine whip tails), p. 42 and p. 215, ‘fengman’ [丰满] (Plump), p. 42 and p. 216, ‘erlan de yu’ [尔兰的雨](Rain in ’reland), pp. 43-44 and pp. 213-214; ‘ai wangshi de ren’ [爱忘事的人] (The one who is forgetful), p. 44; ’12.34pm’ [12.34pm], p. 45; and ‘jinsi bolei’ [金斯勃雷](Kingsbury), p. 46, and acceptance speech for being nominated a Top Ten poet in 2019, pp. 40-41, and an interview by Li Suo, pp. 127-134, all by Ouyang Yu and published in Chinese Avant-garde Poetry: A 2019 Annual Collection [汉语先锋:2019诗年选], published by China Friendship Publishing Company, 2021.
  • Additional Works (Translations):

    In addition to works individually indexed on AustLit, Ouyang Yu has also translated the following works:

    • 'The Possessed', a libretto, written by Julian Yu and Glenn Perry, and translated by Ouyang Yu, in 2003, performed in 2003, by Chamber Made, based on a Chinese film, Ju Dou(菊豆), adapted from the novel, 伏羲伏羲, written by Liu Heng.
    • poem by Wu Suzhen, 'Raising a tigress', translated from the Chinese by Ouyang Yu, published in Project 366, at: http://project365plus.blogspot.com.au/2016/08/wu-suzhens-raising-tigress-translation.html
    • poem by Yang Xie, 'What Did they Say When They were Talking about Miłosz', translated from the Chinese by Ouyang Yu, published in Project 366, at: http://project365plus.blogspot.com.au/2016/08/yang-xie-translated-by-ouyang-yu-what.html
    • poem by Mo Xiaoxie, 'We didn't owe each other anything anymore', translated from the Chinese by Ouyang Yu, published in Project 366, at: http://project365plus.blogspot.com.au/2016/08/mo-xiaoxies-we-didnt-owe-each-other.html
    • seven poems by Bakhytzhan Kanapianov, translated into Chinese by Ouyang Yu, in Shilin (诗林) 195.4 (2016): 93-96.
    • twelve poems by American poet Jack Gilbert, translated by Ouyang Yu into Chinese, published in Shikan (《诗刊》)(Poetry Monthly),11 (2016): pp. 68-72.
    • one poem by Li Suo, 'My Fire Is There within You', translated by Ouyang Yu, published in The Australian, 2-3 September 2017.
    • one volume of poem by Ardakh Nurgaz, A Garden of Trees and Other Poems, translated by Ouyang Yu and self-published by Nurgaz in Kazakhstan, 2017.
    • 'Island', 'Death Be Not Proud', and 'The Flea', by John Donne, translated by Ouyang Yu and published in Sanjiaofan (《三角帆》), No. 33, Spring issue, 2017, pp. 94-6.
    • Beyond Human: How Cutting-edge Science is Extending Our Lives by Eve Herold, translated by Ouyang Yu (Beijing Xirong Books, 2018).
    • Chinese Englishes: A Sociolinguistic History, by Kingsley Bolton, translated by Ouyang Yu, Shanghai Literature and Arts Publishing House, 2011.
    • 7 poems, translated from English into Chinese, including《在过去那些日子里》(‘In Those Old Days’)by John Freeman,《气质》(‘The Temperaments’)by Ezra Pound,《回忆半夜在镜中看到的演员》(‘A Memory of the Players in a Mirror at Midnight’)by James Joyce,《恋人》(‘The Equilibrists’)by John Crowe Ransom,《事实》(‘Fact of the Fact’)by Robert Graves,《数心跳》(‘Counting the Beats’)by Robert Graves and《纯洁的死亡》by Robert Graves,published in Poem Reference(《诗参考》),No. 1, 2002, pp. 207-210.
    • Six poems translated from the Chinese into the English, including “A casual poem composed after my return to my hometown”, by He Zhizhang, ‘The Traveller’ by Wang Jiaxin, ‘The Soil and the Letter’ by Song Xiaoxian, ‘The Waking of Insects’ by Fei Ya, ‘Someone with Tooth-ache’ by Song Yaozhen, and ‘Wood Ear’ by Luruo Diji, in Modern Poetry in Translation (London), no. 21, 2003, pp. 231-236.
    • ‘“When the lines...” Boris Pasternak’ (《“当诗行……”鲍里斯•帕斯捷尔纳克》), ‘And through’(《而穿过》), ‘Ostankino’(《奥斯坦金诺》), ‘Almaty, Kazakhstan’(《哈萨克斯坦阿拉木图》), ‘The Tourist Trip’(《游客之旅》), ‘The Song of the Vagabond’(《浪游者的歌》), ‘Somnabulic Sonnet’(《梦游者的商籁诗), ‘On the Melody of My Childish Books’(《伴着孩子气的书的乐曲》), all in English by Bakhytzhan Kanapyanov, a Kazakh poet, and translated into Chinese, published in shijie wenxue(《世界文学》)[World Literature], No. 3, 2017, respectively, pp. 100-115.
    • ‘Sad Songs from Another World’ (a sequence of seven poems), written in Chinese by Xiao Xiao, and translated into English by Ouyang Yu, published in Long Poem Magazine (UK), Issue 19, Spring 2018, pp. 3-13.
    • A Land of Forlorn Wild Geese (collection of short stories) by John Sheng, translated into English by Ouyang Yu, Novum Publishing, 2018.
    • Two Halves of the World Apple: Poems by Yang Ke, translated into English by Ouyang Yu, Denis Mair, Chao, Simon Patton, and Ning Yang, University of Oklahoma Press (annotated edition), 2017.
    • Elephant: Poems of D.H. Lawrence (大象:劳伦斯诗集), a collection of poems by D.H. Lawrence, translated into Chinese by Ouyang Yu, Sichuan Art and Literature Publishing House, 2018.
    • A Complete Collection of Poems by Yehuda Amichai (如果我忘了你,耶路撒冷) translated into Chinese by Ouyang Yu, Sichuan Art and Literature Publishing House, 2018.
    • My Thin Brother Van Gogh: An Interpretation of 120 Famous Paintings by Van Gogh(我的瘦哥哥凡高——凡高名画120幅解读), a collection of poems and prose, written by Geng Xiang under the pseudonym of ‘Huang Ming’, and translated into English by Ouyang Yu, published by Shanxi Xinhua Publishing Media Group/Shanxi People’s Fine Arts Publishing House, 2018.
    • 7 poems, ‘When I was a child’(当我还是孩子时), ‘My mother baked the whole world for me’(母亲为我烘焙了全世界), ‘The two of us together and each one alone’(我们俩在一起,但彼此都孤独), ‘Autobiography in the year 1952’(1952年的自传), ‘The smell of gasoline’(我的鼻子里闻到的汽油味), ‘Out of three or four people in a room’(屋里的三到四人中)and ‘The time has come to collect the evidence’(搜集证据的时候已经到了), all by Yehuda Amichai and translated into Chinese by Ouyang Yu, published in Sanjiaofan(三角帆)[Spinnaker], Winter, 2018, pp. 92-6.
    • 11 poems, ‘Mirror in February’(二月之镜), ‘First Light’(第一线亮光), ‘Chrysalis’(蝶蛹),  ‘At the Ocean’s Edge’(在大海的边缘), ‘Another September’(又一个九月), ‘Legendary Figures, in Old Age’(老年的传奇形象), ‘Drowsing over the Arabian Nights’(看<一千零一夜>打盹), ‘Night songs’(夜歌), ‘Better is handful with quietness’(一手满满都是静), ‘Endymion’(恩底弥翁), and ‘Songs of the Psyche’(灵魂之歌), all by Thomas Kinsella and translated into Chinese by Ouyang Yu, published in Shikan(《诗刊》)[Poetry Twice-Monthly], No. 1, 2019 (first half of the month), respectively, pp. 61-5.
    • A sequence of poems, ‘Letters to a Stranger’(写给陌生人的一束信), by Thomas James and translated into Chinese by Ouyang Yu, published in Pujiang Wenxue(浦江文学)[Pujiang Literature], Spring, 2019, respectively, pp. 14-7.
    • 3 poems, ‘Heron’(苍鹭), ‘Giraffe’ (长颈鹿), and ‘Out-of-the-body travel’(身体之外的旅行), all by Stanley Plumly and translated into Chinese by Ouyang Yu, published in Pujiang Wenxue(浦江文学)[Pujiang Literature], Spring, 2019, respectively, pp. 12-3.
    • 3 poems, ‘Heron’(苍鹭), ‘Giraffe’(长颈鹿)and ‘Out-of-the-body travel’(身体之外的旅行), all by Stanley Plumly and translated into Chinese by Ouyang Yu, published in Yangzijiang shikan(扬子江诗刊)[The Yangtze Poetry Bi-monthly], No. 2, 2019, pp. 58-9.
    • Four books of Chinese poetry translated by Ouyang Yu, published by Puncher & Wattmann: To Practice the Rhythms by Shu Cai (205 pages), I Live Alone by Lu Ye (262 pages), Dangling by Yang Xie (269 pages) and On Low Ground, Lower Ground by Long Quan (298 pages).
    • 3 poems by Hai An [海岸], all translated by Ouyang Yu, in Azuria, No. 9, 2019: ‘Treading the Green’ (taqing) [踏青], pp. 36-7, ‘Rain’ (yu) [雨], p. 39, and ‘My daughter’ (nüer) [女儿], pp. 40-1.
    • ‘The Theatre’ by Ardak Nurgaz, translated by Ouyang Yu, published in Prosopisia, No. 1, 2019, pp. 23-5.
    • 火焰 (The Flame), a collection of poetry by Leonard Cohen, translated by Ouyang Yu, published by CITIC Press Corporation, China, 2019.
    • 'An Interview with Yehuda Amichai', translated by Ouyang Yu, published in The Paris Review: The Art of Poetry (a collection of interviews), People's Literature Press, China, 2019 (pp. 239-268).
    • 5 poems, 玫瑰, 另一个男人的女人, 圣弗朗西斯科, 窗, and 你的死, all by Leonard Cohen, and translated into Chinese by Ouyang Yu, published by Pujiang wenxue(浦江文学),winter 2019, pp. 4-6.
    • Dangling by Yang Xie (Puncher and Wattmann, 2020).
    • 'To wash down the north-western wind with liquor, like the dishes', 'Migrating to Chongqing', 'Pleasure', and 'Praise', written in Chinese by Na Ye and translated into English by Ouyang Yu, published on Monday, 2/9/19, at http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article/migrating-to-chongqing
    • ‘Reverberations’, written by Zhang Meng, translated by Ouyang Yu, published in The Australian, 4/7/2020.
    • The Lost Craft, by Hai An, translated by Ouyang Yu, published by Puncher & Wattmann, 2020.
    • Shutting, by Lu Piao, translated by Ouyang Yu, published by Puncher & Wattmann, 2020.
    • Digging, by Ren Yi, translated by Ouyang Yu, published by Puncher and Wattmann, 2020.
    • 28 poems by various authors, written in Chinese and translated into English by Ouyang Yu, published in The Poems of Liangzhu (良渚的诗), ed. Zhang Hailong, published by Zhejiang University Press, 2020, various pages.
    • Animal Farm (动物农庄), translated by Ouyang Yu, Hainan Publishing House, August 2020.
    • The Old Man and the Sea (老人与海), translated by Ouyang Yu, Hainan Publishing House, August 2020.
    • 4 poems in Chinese by Duo Er [朵而], ‘The wild lily’ [野百合], ‘Listen’ [你听], ‘Or’ [或者说] and ‘At winter solstice that year’ [那年冬至], all translated by Ouyang Yu into English and published in Cordite on 1/2/2021, at http://cordite.org.au/translations/yu-er/
    • 1 poem, 《关于中国上海康师傅私房牛肉馆爱情的笔记,2015年6月》(p. 36),a translation in Chinese by Ouyang Yu, of a poem, titled, ‘Notes on Love at King Kong Chef’s Table, Shanghai, June 2015’ (p. 37), written by Rodger Martin, and published in For All the Tea in Zhongguo, edited by Rodger Martin and published by Hobblebush Books, 2019.
    • 13 poems, by Thomas Kinsella, an Irish poet, translated into Chinese by Ouyang Yu, 《新译外国诗人20家》(xin yi waiguo shiren 20 jia) [20 Foreign Poets Newly Translated], edited by Poetry Monthly Publishing House and published by Guangxi Normal University Press, in January 2021.
    • One essay, titled, ‘Go and Catch a Falling Remark’ (translated in Chinese as, ‘ “touting” tanhua de miaoqu’) [偷听谈话的妙趣], by Gilbert Highet, in Shenghuo suibi (Living Essays) [生活随笔], published by Hubei People’s Publishing House, 1994, pp. 113-116; and in in yingguo youmo xianshi xiaopin (Humorous and Relaxed Essays from the UK) [英国幽默闲适小品], published Anhui Arts and Literature Publishing House, in 2002, pp. 201-204; and in zhongxuesheng yuedu 2002 jiazuo (Fine Works in 2002 for the Middle School Students to Read) [中学生阅读2002佳作], published Lijiang Publishing House, in 2003, pp. 156-7; and in Haokan xiaopin (Good-to-read essays)[好看小品], published by Zhuhai Publishing House, in 2005, pp. 67-69; and in Touting tanhua de miaoqu [偷听谈话的妙趣], published by Hubei Education Press, in 2005, pp. 152-154; and in Wen Zhai bao(《文摘报》), 17 July 2021, p.7.
    • One essay, titled, ‘Go and Catch a Falling Remark’ (translated in Chinese as ‘ “touting” tanhua de miaoqu’) [偷听谈话的妙趣] (pp. 353-356) and ‘Pictures of War’ (translated into Chinese as ‘fengge jiongyi de zhanzheng huajuan’ [风格迥异的战争画卷] (pp. 356-361), both by Gilbert Highet, in Meigui shu [玫瑰树], in an anthology titled, ‘shijie sanwen suibi jingpin wenku: yingguo juan [Select Works in World Essays: the Great Britain Volume], published by China Academy of Social Sciences Press, in 1993.
    • One essay, titled, ‘Go and Catch a Falling Remark’ (translated in Chinese as ‘ “touting” tanhua de miaoqu’) [偷听谈话的妙趣] and ‘Pictures of War’ (translated into Chinese as ‘fengge jiongyi de zhanzheng huajuan’ [风格迥异的战争画卷], both by Gilbert Highet, and one short story, ‘Theory of sets’, by an American writer, translated into Chinese as ‘zuhe zhi dao’ [组合之道], in World Literatures, the most prestigious Chinese translation magazine, Nos. 4 and 5., 1987.
    • One essay, titled, ‘Pictures of War’ (translated into Chinese as ‘fengge jiongyi de zhanzheng huajuan’ [风格迥异的战争画卷] (pp. 141-144), by Gilbert Highet, in Waiguo zuihao de meiwen (Most Beautiful Essays from the Foreign Countries) [外国最好的美文], published by Chongwen Shuju Publishing House, in 2011.
    • ‘Micro-fiction from China’, with 4 micro-stories by Deng Kaishan, ‘The first night’, p. 54, ‘Crickets-chickens’, pp. 54-55, ‘Fishing’, p. 55 and ‘Loss’, p. 55, all translated by Ouyang Yu and collected in From Yellow Earth to Eucalypt: stories and poems from China and Australia, selected and edited by Neil Whitfield, Longman Australia Pty Ltd, 1995, pp. 53-5.
    • Poems by various authors, all published in fan [翻],a supplement to Huawen wenxue (Literatures in Chinese), titled, Fan: A Bilingual Selection of Poetry in Chinese and English, edited by Ouyang Yu and Yang Xie, published in 2017.
    • Four essays written by Lu Xun and translated by Ouyang Yu, ‘Revenge’ (pp. 143-144), ‘Farewell from a shadow’ (pp. 144-145), ‘A beggar’ (pp. 145-146), and ‘Hope’ (pp. 146-147), with a ‘Translator’s Note’ (pp. 147-148), written by Ouyang Yu, published in Lu Xun and Australia, eds. by Mabel Lee, Chiu-Yee Cheung and Sue Wiles, by Australian Scholarly Publishing in 2016.
    • Three Chinese micro-stories, ‘Mr Fixit’ (pp. 21-23), written by Chen Benzhi, ‘Puzzle’ (pp. 77-78), written by Tang Lufeng, and ‘A small town’ (pp. 108-110), written by Ye Ping, all translated Ouyang Yu, in Rosemary Sorensen (ed), Micro Stories, Sydney: Harper Collins A & R, 1993.
    • Poems by various authors, all translated from Chinese into English or from English into Chinese, depending on the authors, published in fan [翻],a supplement to Huawen wenxue (Literatures in Chinese), titled, Fan: A Bilingual Selection of Poetry in Chinese and English (No. 2), edited by Ouyang Yu and Yang Xie, published in late 2018.
    • 12 poems by Roque Dalton, translated by Ouyang Yu into Chinese,《27岁》,p. 194, 《确定》,pp. 194-5, 《忘却》,p. 195, 《像你一样》,pp. 195-6,《裸女》,pp. 196-7, 《凌晨》,pp. 197-8, 《有点乏味的书房》,pp. 198-9, 《虚荣》,pp. 199-200, 《我要》,pp. 200-202, 《我跟你说》,pp. 202-3, 《论头痛》,p. 203, 《第十六首诗》,p. 204, included in《那些上紧时光的手》(naxie shangjin shiguang de shou),published by China Youth Press, 2016, pp. 192-204.
    • Poems by An Qi [安琪], ‘In the Depth of Night’ [在夜的深处], pp. 12-3, ‘They Were Talking about Love’ [他们在说爱情], pp. 14-5, ‘Leaves in Beijing’ [树叶在北京], pp. 16-7, and ‘Beginning with July’ [七月开始], pp. 18-9, all translated by Ouyang Yu, and published in Urban Poetry from China [来自中国的城市诗歌]. Selected by Huang Fan and James Sherry, and published by Roof Books, New York, in 2021.
    • One essay, titled, ‘Go and Catch a Falling Remark’ (translated in Chinese as, ‘ “touting” tanhua de miaoqu’) [偷听谈话的妙趣], by Gilbert Highet, in an anthology titled, Waiguo wenxue mingzuo daodu ben: sanwen juan (Famous Foreign Literary Works, a Guide Book: the Essay Volume) [外国文学名作导读本:散文卷], published by Guangxi Education Press, in 2001, pp. 106-109.
    • 28 poems written in Chinese by various authors, all translated into English by Ouyang Yu, edited by Zhang Hailong and published by Zhejiang University Press, 2020.
    • 4 poems by An Qi [安琪], ‘In the Depth of Night’ [在夜的深处], pp. 12-3, ‘They Were Talking about Love’ [他们在说爱情], pp. 14-5, ‘Leaves in Beijing’ [树叶在北京], pp. 16-7, and ‘Beginning with July’ [七月开始], pp. 18-9, all translated by Ouyang Yu, and published in Urban Poetry from China [来自中国的城市诗歌], Selected by Huang Fan and James Sherry, and published by Roof Books, New York, in 2021.
    • It Seems that I’m Depressed by Man Chen, translated by Ouyang Yu from the Chinese (Published by Puncher & Wattmann, October 2021)
    • Book of Time(《时间之书》), a collection of Chinese poems, by Shi Mian, and translated by Ouyang Yu and Xu Jiantong, and published by The Herald Publisher Proprietary Limited, 2021.
    • Pebbles, Eggs & the Fence by Ardak Nurgaz and translated by Ouyang Yu, published by Puncher & Wattmann, November 2021.
    • 9 poems, by John Clare, an English poet, translated into Chinese by Ouyang Yu, ‘The Gipsies evening blaze’ [吉普赛人黄昏的火焰], p. 56, ‘Epigram’ [短章], p. 56, ‘To a rose bud in humble life’ [致一朵生命卑微的玫瑰蓓蕾], pp. 56-7, ‘Written in November’ [写于十一月], p. 57, ‘The old pond full of flags and fenced around’ [“老池塘里满满都是香蒲,周围还围了一圈栅栏”], p. 57, ‘A scene’ [一个场景], p. 57, ‘To a winter scene’ [致一个冬日的场景], pp. 57-8, ‘What is life?’ [生命是什么?], p. 58, ‘Summer’ [夏天], published by Yangtze Jiang Poetry Journal [扬子江诗刊], No. 6, 2021.
    • High Summer by Zhang Meng published in Mascara 27
    • Translation of Home is Further Away than the Lightning by Zhang Chunhua (2022)
    • When Seething Night Is Left Upon the Flowers (>当沸腾的夜留在了花上), a collection of poems by John Clare, published by Wenjin Publishing House, 2024.
    • 1 poem, 'Married', by Jack Gilbert, and translated into Chinese by Ouyang Yu, as [婚了], and published in《在风吹到的所有方向里》(Of All the Directions the Wind Can Blow, edited by Gao Xing and published by People's Literature Press in 2019, pp. 141-142.

  • In 2018, Verse Vagrant published an interview with Ouyang Yu in Russian: view interview. (Sighted: 30/7/2018)

Personal Awards

Awards for Works

y separately published work icon Terminally Poetic Melbourne : Melbourne University Press , 2020 19594000 2020 selected work poetry '‘Terminally Poetic is charged with desperation. It’s written from an opium den of wasted Australian stereotypes in the Grub Street of the mind. Ouyang Yu puts the alien back in Australian. No one is spared in this exposé of Australian letters, certainly neither the poet nor his reader. A book to climb up in love with.’ - Steve Brock
'‘Terminally Poetic is Ouyang Yu working through the colonial alphabet and undoing it and himself at various turns and forks in the road. This is the individuated poet - one of the most committed poets who undoes poetry as an act of principle, who asks questions of 'who's to blame' in startling and nuanced ways - counting down (or up) through the letters so we can make new words from the poems. He confronts reductionism by disowning it while experiencing it, he confronts expectations of style and mode of writing it by writing it and then laughing at himself and the expectations of his readers. Excoriating and yet strangely vulnerable, the poet takes on the poet and poetry's failure to be noticed, to matter, to be what it wants to be.’ - John Kinsella' (Publication summary)
2021 winner Queensland Literary Awards Judith Wright Calanthe Award
y separately published work icon Fainting with Freedom Parkville : Five Islands Press , 2015 8695053 2015 selected work poetry

Fainting with Freedom displays Ouyang Yu's characteristic wrestlings with absurdity, the quotidian and the pain of history, while maintaining a distinctly different take on what constitutes 'the self'. The poems shimmer with language-play - through slippages between English and Chinese, a more illuminating existential truth arises. – John Kinsella

'Why,' asks Ouyang Yu in this stunning new collection, is fame 'never associated with failure?' From the great consensus challenger of our age, Fainting with Freedom skewers all the truisms we have been forced by culture to hold too dear, its language abundant with the honesty, percipience and pith we know to expect from this major writer. – Nicholas Birns, Editor, Antipodes

'Ouyang Yu has mellowed but is by no means tamed. Anger has given way to sadness, occasional bitterness, but also acceptance; his linguistic fireworks explode on the page. This collection cements Ouyang's position as one of Australia's most innovative poets. Wenche Ommundsen.' (Publication summary)

2016 shortlisted New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry
Last amended 27 May 2024 12:30:02
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