The Modern Novel

Biography

Mo Yan was born Guan Moye to a peasant family in Gaomi in Shandong Province in 1955. His education ended in 1966 when the Cultural Revolution broke out when he worked as a peasant. He subsequently worked in a factory before joining the army, where he became a member of the cultural department. His main inspiration still remains the Gaomi area though he combines both the urban and the rural and the historical and the present. His pen name means don’t speak. He won The Nobel Prize for Literature in 2012.

Other links

Mo Yan
Mo Yan
Mo Yan
Mo Yan
Novelist Mo Yan Takes Aim with 41 Bombs
Chinese writer Mo Yan awarded culture prize in Japan
Why We Should Criticize Mo Yan
China’s Nobel Laureate Mo Yan Defends Censorship
The Diseased Language of Mo Yan
Does This Writer Deserve the Prize?
Mo Yan: ‘I Just Want to Write—Leave Me Alone’
Interview