Q: What writer do you wish people read more and why?

A: For young American writers and readers, I hope they can read more foreign translated works, which will not only broaden their horizons, but also bring new elements and new stimulation to their writing. Elias Canetti, a British-German writer and Nobel laureate in literature, once said, "Language finds its own fountain of youth in another language."

Q: Favorite film or photograph?

A: I like many films and photography, but I would like to recommend a documentary 20 Days in Mariupol by a Ukrainian director. Not only does it give us insight into what really happened in an occupied, destroyed city, it also forces us to rethink our own writing today.

Q: How does a poem begin for you?

A: For a poet, his different poems may have different beginnings. Sometimes our experiences and feelings struggle to find a form, an outlet for expression, and sometimes the occasional word or detail we see suddenly awakens a poem that has been sleeping in us. It appeared like an unexpected gift. But even so, we must fully prepare ourselves to enter into an active creative state of mind, or else the poem will be missed.

Q: What is the best piece of writing advice you have ever received?

A: The best writing advice I ever received as a young poet came from Rainer Maria Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet. I think that all young writers who are interested in poetry and dedicated to poetry should listen to Rilke's advice.

Q: What writers living or dead would you invite to your dream literary dinner party?

A: I would like to invite Du Fu, Tsvetaeva and the living American Ukrainian poet Ilya Kaminsky and his wife, the poet Katie Farris, to my dream literary dinner party. Du Fu is my most revered ancestor and master of poetry, he lived a poor life, so I want to treat him well. Tsvetaeva is Ilya's and my favorite poetess. Ilya is an excellent poet, I have translated his Deaf Republic and we shared a lot together. In fact, he and Katie once invited me and my wife out to dinner, the next day he wrote to me and said 'It is so good to have had the chance to break bread together'. What a beautiful expression! Yes, we didn't just simply eat, but "broke bread" together. I hope this happens again and again at my dream literary dinner party.