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Memorial: Selected Poems by Yan Li, Edited and Translated by Anna Yin

In recent years, I have devoted myself to translating the poetry of Yan Li. His work is uniquely profound, shaped by a strong historical imprint and distinguished by black humour and layered metaphors, making translation both challenging and rewarding. Yan Li shared more than one hundred poems with me, from which I translated over fifty. Seventeen of these translations have appeared in leading English-language journals. In November 2024, I received Yan Li’s written authorization to publish this collection. While I was seeking publishers in North America and the United Kingdom, Yan Li unexpectedly passed away on June 24, 2026.

To reduce paper use and protect our forests, this memorial edition is published by Sureway Press and shared digitally, allowing these poems to continue their journey in a lighter and more sustainable form. May these verses transcend language and time, continuing to be read, heard, and remembered.

Memorial: Selected Poems by Yan Li, Edited and Translated by Anna Yin
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Poetry Alive and Poetry Reading in July 2026

I shared four kinds of poetry: haiku, shape poetry, free verse, erasure poetry and poetry and music.., yes, i have a whole day as poet in class… also shared the link of Poet Laureate Podcast and invited students to write about FIFA World Cup…thanks Poetry in Voice and Caroline Howe for supporting!

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Breaking into Blossom, a finalist for the 2026 Robert Kroetsch Award for Poetry at the Alberta Book Publishing Awards

2026 Robert Kroetsch Award for Poetry (Alberta Book Publishing Award)(Finalist)

A Review of Anna Yin’s Breaking into Blossom by Renée m. Sgroi

From Alice Major:
Anna Yin’s poems ‘breathe in two languages,’ creating a lovely tension between immediacy and distance that feels as though two points on a globe have been connected by a flight path. Her imagery is deeply sensual, compelling yet delicate. Her lines hover in our minds like the dream that “finds his own key, unlocks the door and comes inside.”

From Molly Peacock:
In her gorgeous book, Breaking into Blossom, Anna Yin’s poetry is like the interior of the abalone shell she depicts, “emerald… just shining.” Almost anything or anyone in this volume can break unexpectedly into blossom, including the poems themselves, often concluding with unanticipated discoveries.  The book undulates with observations and the animated sur-reality of all kinds of exchanges, from an interview with a painter to the poet’s father’s late life words to a desperate woman stepping on a Forget-me-not.  “The career of flowers differs from us only in inaudibleness,” Emily Dickinson wrote to her cousins, and Yin’s buoyant inspirations from poets across time, Li Po to Wallace Stevens, Akhmatova to Dickinson herself, give voice to subtly noticed feelings and thoughts.  Anna Yin is fast becoming a Canadian treasure.

Susan McMaster for book review on driftwood June 2025 in Chinese & English
Terry McDonagh’s review on Live Encounters Poetry & Writing July 2025