On Tuesday, February 11th, Columbia residents gathered at the Orr Street Studios for an event entitled “Hearing Voices, Seeing Visions.” In addition to short stories by Daren Dean, the event featured readings by Huichun Liang, Assistant Teaching Professor of Chinese in our department. Professor Liang read from her newly-published volume of poetry Autumn Presencing (Strawberry Hedgehog, 2020), which also features paintings by Steven Schroeder. Following the reading, a short Q&A allowed Professor Liang to reflect on her approach to translating and writing poetry, and to offer observations about how traveling, and settling down, have shaped her artistic practice.

A prolific translator and poet, Professor Liang is also co-author (with Zhanjing) of Chinese Idioms (Flower Publishing House), and co-translator (with Steven Schroeder) of Li Nan’s Small. Her writing has appeared in Da Gong (Hong Kong), Sing Tao Daily (US), and a variety of media in China.  Her translation appears in voice & verse (Hong Kong), Sichuan Literature, Rhino and some other anthologies of Chinese to English bilingual poetry translation. Her poems, Loneliness and Translator have been in the shortlists respectfully in the 2018 Flushing Poetry Festival and 2019 International Flushing Poetry Festival.