Date of birth: 1944
Website:

Poet Wu Sheng (吳晟, Wu Sheng-Xiong 吳勝雄), born in 1944 to a farming family, lives in the rural county of Changhua in central Taiwan. After graduating from Pingtung Agriculture College in 1971, he taught biology at Hsichou Junior High School . In addition to teaching, he also worked on the family's rice fields. His leisure time, however, was devoted to writing poetry.

Wu's poetry is deeply enrooted in the ordinary life and work of farmers in Taiwanese villages. They evince pure love for the earth and profound social concern.

In 1975, Wu received the Modern Chinese Poetry Award from the Epoch Poetry Society. The Award Committee had the following to say about Wu’s work: "His poetic style is simple and real, natural and solid. He uses the rural language in a touching and sincere manner." Most of his writings, drawn from life experiences, have to do with the sincerity of the hard-working peasantry.

During his four decades of writing, Wu Sheng published five volumes of poetry and six essay collections. He retired in 2000. Later, Wu and his wife embarked on a journey along Taiwan's longest river, the Chuoshui River（濁水溪）. This was a project in which Wu and his wife aimed to visit, explore, and report on the bio- and socio- conditions of the environment along the river. Their observation, Notes on the Chuoshui River , was published in 2002.

In 2007, Wu received the Wu Sanlian Literature Award (吳三連文學獎), one of the great honors in Taiwanese literature.

Wu’s poetry is not mere superficial nostalgia for the land, but serious commentary that radiated from his strong Taiwanese identity and his belief that social justice will eventually triumph. Such is his unchanging style and character since he first emerged in the field of Taiwanese poetry in the 1960s.

In addition to his poetry, Wu is also noted for his essays that delve deeply into Taiwanese village life, bringing to elucidating the contribution that farming makes to economic development, and recording various aspects of the village life and the lives of farmers. While presenting the farmers as resilient, hard-working, sturdy and tolerant, his writing highlights the common spirit of the Taiwanese people.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: The above information is edited by Felicity Fei-Hsien CHIU（邱斐顯）, former editor of center of web and wireless news service, the Central News Agency. http://www.wretch.cc/blog/phesha0822/13808036

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sad Western Coast. Wu Sheng/poem_mv http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IN89ZV5PwM&feature=related

I can only write a poem for you. Wu Sheng/poem_wmv http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6e0Nj8hL8LM&feature=related

Poet Wu Sheng's Dream. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfM5F-Bx13s&feature=related

More Authors

Kim H. Krisco

A child of the '60's Kim Krisco unplugged from the matrix in 1990 and wondered in northern New Mexico and eventually stumbled into Trinidad Colorado where he began hand building a straw bale home and coaching center. The decade long process led created the friction he needed to grow and evolve into...