Tuscaloosa, Ala. – The Bankhead Visiting Writers Series welcomes Chinese poet Bei Dao to The University of Alabama on Jan. 20 for a reading from his latest work at 7:30 p.m. in 205 Smith Hall.

Bei Dao, considered the most influential of the Chinese Misty Poets, has published five volumes of poetry in English – “Unlock,” “Landscape Over Zero,” “Forms of Distance,” “Old Snow,” and “The August Sleepwalker” – as well as a collection of short stories, “Waves,” and a collection of essays, “Blue House.”

In 1978 he founded the underground literary journal, “Today,” the first non-government sponsored and pro-democracy journal in China since 1949. Since the 1989 revolt in Tiananmen Square, he has lived in exile. He is an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and is the Meckey Poet in Residence at Beloit College, Wisconsin.

The Bankhead Visiting Writers Series is made possible by an endowment from the Bankhead Foundation, The University of Alabama’s Program in Creative Writing, the department of English and the College of Arts and Sciences. For more information, please contact the creative writing program at 205/348-0766 or visit www.bama.ua.edu/~writing.