A speech for presenting the 8th Freedom to Write Award
Today, we, the Independent Chinese PEN Centre, present the 8th Freedom to Write Award to poet and writer Ye Fu. We have now added another glorious name to the list of recipients of the Freedom to Write Award, from which the testing rod of freedom of Chinese writing has another glowing mark on it.
Ye Fu, aka Zheng Shiping, was born in Lichuan County in Ensi, Hubei Province. He entered the Department of Chinese at Hubei Ethnic Studies Institute and enrolled at the writers’ programme in Wuhan University in 1986. He was assigned to work in a public security unit in 1988, but he left the public security to express his sympathy towards the students in 1989. He provided assistance to some pro-democracy activists but he was betrayed and was imprisoned for several years. He worked in publishing and editing for many years after he was released from prison. He is currently a freelance writer. Continue reading