New England Review Explores China Through Poetry, Fiction, and Essays

MIDDLEBURY, Vt. – The new issue of New England Review focuses on the language and culture of China, and marks the first time the quarterly journal has included Chinese literature since 1987. Along with several contemporary works translated from Chinese, there are original pieces written in English pertaining to China. The new issue offers the first English translations of three contemporary Chinese poets; Wei An’s ruminations on nature; Wendy Willis on Ai Weiwei’s show at Alcatraz; and fiction by Chinese-born American Michael X. Wang.

Also in this issue, readers accompany NER’s writers as they traverse the United States from the Atlantic to the Pacific, remember their collective pasts, and brave their own presents.

One such piece of nonfiction by translator Eric Wilson tells the story of his being an emergency last-minute escort for a non-English speaking Faeroese activist, writer, poet, and sometimes inebriated academic, leading him from American university to university (and more), and the stories that grew from it. According to NER Managing Editor Marcia Parlow, the piece, which has been picked up by the blog Literary Hub, has garnered tremendous interest, including from long lost friends and relatives of the poet, and of the author.

Published by Middlebury College, New England Review is a nationally recognized literary journal that cultivates artistic excellence and innovation in contemporary writing and engages readers deeply in the literary arts through its quarterly publication, dynamic web presence, and quarterly public reading series. NER is available in print and digital formats for all devices.