Xiao Hai 小海

A leading figure in the Picun migrant workers literature movement, Xiao Hai was born in 1987 in Henan Province and at fifteen moved to Shenzhen to become a factory worker. During a decade spent working in the garment mills and electronics factories of southern China's rapidly growing megacities, he wrote over 500 poems, which have been published in his poetry collections Factory Howl (2016) and Sisyphus on the Wenyu River (2025). He now runs a poetry-themed second clothing store in Beijing and plays in the band Poetry Shop. His memoir Adrift in the South, which began as an essay published in Granta's 2024 China issue, appeared in English in 2026, translated by Tony Hao.

Xiao Hai was our Author of the Month for May/June 2026.