The Writer’s Block: Huang Xiang

Huang Xang (China) is considered the preeminent post-cultural revolution poet of China. After numerous imprisonments and torture, he left his homeland in the face of unrelenting persecution. Mr. Huang was the first writer to be provided sanctuary at City of Asylum/Pittsburgh (2004-06), during which time he created “House Poem” on the façade of 408 Sampsonia Way and published Pittsburgh Dream Nest Jotting, a book of Chinese-language essays on his experiences in Pittsburgh, in addition to writing poetry and collaborating with American painter William Rock on their “Century Mountain Project.” City of Asylum/Pittsburgh also commissioned a translation of Mr. Huang’s poetry by Michelle Yeh. Titled A Lifetime is a Promise to Keep: Poems of Huang Xiang, it was published by the University of California Press in 2008.