More than three decades after scribbling his first poem as a teenager in the mountains of northern China, Chen Nianxi is living a literary dream. He has published two critically acclaimed books. He hobnobs with intellectuals around banquet tables. He tours the country promoting his writing, flitting between book fairs and university lecture halls.
Still, he often finds his joy tempered with a sense of alienation.
"I can’t completely leave behind my old life. I also don’t really know how to participate in this new life,” said Chen, 51, in a video interview from the southern city of Ningbo, where he was attending a book trade fair. "So I really feel like I’m in a very awkward position.”