Yan Yan graduated from Columbia University in 2008 with degrees in English and religious studies. After working at the Alibaba Group in Hangzhou, China, his hometown, he backpacked around the world and eventually settled down in Brooklyn, then the Hudson Valley.
As a freelance translator, he translated works by Hans Christian Andersen Award–winner Cao Wenxuan, including the Dingding and Dangdang series, XiMi, and Mountain Goats Don’t Eat Heaven’s Grass, as well as updated editions of Grass House and Bronze Sunflower, for China Children’s Press & Publication Group. More recently, he has been translating works by the Chinese literary icon Wang Xiaobo, which include a novella collection titled Golden Age and an essay collection titled The Pleasure of Thinking.
