The German Publishers and Booksellers Association is awarding its 2012 Peace Prize to Liao Yiwu. [...] In his prose and poetry, Liao Yiwu erects an evocative literary monument to those people living on the margins of Chinese society. The author, who has experienced first-hand the effects of prison, torture and repression, is an unwavering chronicler and observer who bears witness on behalf of the outcasts of modern China.
The Board of Trustees statement, June 21, 2012
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[Liu Xiaobo and I] both wish for freedom in China. But apart from that, we are very different. Liu Xiaobo is an intellectual, and people like Havel and Mandela are his role models. He sees himself as the leader of an intellectual elite. I see myself as an unpolitical author, as a recording device of the times. [...]
Liao Yiwu (廖亦武), in an interview with Börsenblatt (republished by Friedenspreis website), June 21, 2012
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Were you one of those kids that does graffiti? That’s a bad habit. I just don’t understand it.
Grandpa Zhou, The Public Toilet Manager, Paris Review, Summer 2005
