Ai Weiwei Is Writing a Memoir to Be Released in 2017

Firebrand contemporary artist Ai Weiwei‘s life is certainly worthy of a book, and it turns out that he is going to do exactly that with news of a memoir in the works, to be published by the Crown Publishing Group in 2017. In the memoir, the political activist will look back on his life, as well as the cultural history of China and the story of his father, prominent poet Ai Qing, that have become so intertwined with his own. Set to cover his father’s incarceration by the Kuomintang for his political opposition, Ai’s own childhood spent in poverty, all the way up to his 81-day detention by Chinese authorities in 2011, Ai recognizes the provocative nature of his autobiography in the eyes of the Communist government, adding that “the history of totalitarianism is one characterized by the state’s continuous attempts to destroy individual memories.”