Yu Jie

born in 1973, is a Chinese writer and human rights activist. In 2010 he was incarcerated and tortured for his friendship with the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Liu Xiaobo. In 2012 he managed to emigrate to the US, where he lives with his family today. Jie has written more than thirty books, such as »Zhōngguó yǐngdì wēnjiābǎo« (2010; tr. China’s best actor: Wen Jiabao), and helped found the Chinese PEN Center, which advocates for and defends the freedom to publish.