Chinese author Liao Yiwu banned from Sydney Writers' Festival

Dissident Chinese author Liao Yiwu was due to appear at next week’s Sydney Writers’ Festival, but he has been banned from attending by the Chinese Government.

The writer -- who was imprisoned for four years for penning "Massacre", a condemnation of the events in Tiananmen Square in 1989 -- has not been granted a travel visa. The Chinese Government has further advised him that he must publish his work overseas.

This follows Liao’s book, “The Corpse Walker,” being published in Australia last week by Text Publishing.

The festival’s artistic director, Chip Rolley, said that Liao “has been denied the fundamental right to express his views freely.”

The gagging is typical. Yiwu was denied an exit visa to attend the PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature in the United States.

It could be worse for Liao. His 2010 Nobel Peace Prize-winning colleague and president of the Chinese PEN center, Lui Xiaobo, is serving an 11-year prison sentence for “inciting subversion of state power.”

The Guardian reports today that artist Al Weiwei has two exhibitions opening in the United Kingdom, but has not been seen since his April 3 arrest in Beijing.

For the Sydney author and Sinologist, Linda Jaivin, who was to due to discuss Liao’s work with him at the Writers’ Festival, the news was not only disappointing, but also a publicity bonus for Liao.

She told The Sydney Morning Herald: “Despite numerous such examples, the Chinese government still doesn’t seem to understand that they are simply creating a new cause célèbre every time they do this sort of thing.”

Sydney Writers' Festival, May 14-22, www.swf.org.au

G'Day China (Sydney Writers' Festival), Saturday May 21, 6 p.m.-7:30 p.m., Sydney Town Hall, 483 George St., Tickets $20/$15