MA YAN was born in Chengdu, China, in 1979 and graduated from Beijing University. A novelist, critic, editor, and organizer of literary festivals and events, she also worked as editor of and contributor to Felicity Troup. Her poetry has been published in Today, Foreign Literature, Big River South North, Book City, Chinese Poetry Criticism, Southern Weekend, Shanghai Culture, Limits, and In Chengdu. Ma Yan committed suicide on December 30, 2010, in Shanghai.