Yan Li (poet and artist) born in 1954 in Beijing and now lives in New York, United States. He began composing poetry in 1973, painting in 1979, and also was the member of Avant-Garde Stars artist, Today magazine. In 1984, he held his first one-man show, the first avant-garde art in contemporary China, in Shanghai People’s Park Hall, followed by major solo exhibitions at the UI Museum of Art, Beijing HANWEI International Art Center, C.NA Gallery, Afrand Gallery, FUND Gallery etc., and held the group shows at Whitebox Harlem Art Center, Czech Embassy, Boers-Li Gallery, Today Art Museum, Tokyo Gallery, Lincoln Center, etc., His works are collected by the Shanghai Art Museum, the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum in Japan, and private collectors.
As poet, Yan Li founded the "First line" poetry journal in 1978 in New York, and was editor in chief (ceased publication in 2000). From 2009 to 2015, he holds the annual international moon poetry festival at Millennium Monument Beijing China. He became chairman of the Flushing Poetry Festival in New York from 2018 and the chairman of the Overseas Chinese Writers' Pen Association in New York. At present, he has published more than 20 books of poetry, short stories, novels, essays and paintings, which have been translated into many languages.
