Bei Ling is a poet and essayist, as well as the founder and editor of the exile literary journal Tendency. He was awarded the PEN-U.S. West Freedom of Writing Award in 2000, the same year he was arrested in China for publishing and printing a literary journal and was expelled to the United States. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in The New Republic, Chicago Review, The Los Angeles Times Book Review, AGNI, Southern Indiana Review, and Manoa. (2001)