Yu Xiuhua visits Stanford

Poet Yu Xiuhua Visits Stanford University

Generously sponsored by the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures (the Confucius Institute), and co-sponsored by the Department of Anthropology and the Program in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Stanford University presents to you:

A Film about and Conversation with POET YU XIUHUA:  诗人余秀华对话斯坦福

Yu Xiuhua has been hailed as “China’s Emily Dickinson,” although she refuses the label, insisting that her singularity defies such comparisons. Having shared hundreds of poems on her blog, Yu rose to fame in 2014 when her poem “Crossing Over Half of China to Sleep with You” went viral online. She has since then published three best-selling books of poetry. Sensual, rebellious, at once lyrical and dark, her poetry often expresses a yearning for human connections. The public reception, however, has relentlessly exploited her disability (cerebral palsy) and rural background, labeling her as a “brain-paralyzed peasant poet.” In 2016, Fan Jian made a documentary film Still Tomorrow that chronicles Yu’s transformation from a farmer living in rural China to a public figure appearing on national TV shows; it also documents her struggle to end her 20-year-long arranged marriage. Still Tomorrow won the prestigious IDFA Special Jury Award for Feature-Length Documentary. Yu and Fan will come to Stanford for a poetry reading and film screening. And a roundtable discussion will look at how multiple minority identities such as gender, class, and disability intersect in Yu’s rise to national fame in the age of social media.

See film trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wq3iN2P4toI

Schedule of Events:

APRIL 26 (WEDNESDAY)

6:30-9:00 PM          FILM SCREENING OF STILL TOMORROW

Pigott Hall (BLDG 260) Rm 113

(English subtitles; post-screening conversation with the director moderated by Ban Wang).

APRIL 27 (THURSDAY)

3:30-5:30 PM          ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION

East Asian Library Rm 224

(Chaired by Hangping Xu; speakers include Haiyan Lee, Matthew Kohrman, Elise Huerta, Renren Yang, and Doron Dorfman )

6:30-8:30 PM          POETRY READING & DIALOGUE WITH YU XIUHUA

East Asian Library Rm 224

Posted by: Xu Hangping <hangping@stanford.edu>

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