季栋梁，男，1963年4月14日生于甘肃张家川长宁驿村。宁夏作家协会副主席。1982年毕业于固原师专。代表作有《上庄记》《锦绣记》《海原书》《黑夜长于白天》《我与世界的距离》《吼夜》等。作品多次入选中国小说学会排行榜、中国当代文学最新作品排行榜、《小说选刊》排行榜等，荣获《小说选刊》奖、《中国作家》奖、《北京文学》奖等多种奖项。《和木头说话》《吼夜》分别入围第三届、第五届鲁迅文学奖。《上庄记》荣获2014年中国好书、“五个一”工程奖、北京文学艺术奖等。《锦绣记》入中国好书、京版十大好书、文艺联合书单等榜单。

　　季栋梁说：“文学来自于心灵，来自于阅历，来自于情感的力量和阅读的积累。”他出身于偏僻闭塞的农村，始终关注着农民生命的苦难与卑微，笔下的人物、故事充满了饥渴与挣扎。他的写作注重原生态的风格，但同样对艺术性非常自觉。评论家评价《上庄记》说：老村长这一人物形象“既让他有了赵树理笔下‘中间人物’的文学光彩，同时又为他注入了当今时代丰厚的道德伦理内涵。这样，老村长也就成了一位典型人物，成了老黑格尔所谓的‘这一个’。也正是因此，这个特殊的人物形象丰富了当代文学的人物画廊。”

　　季栋梁的“农民三部曲”深度关注农民的命运。第一部《海原书》以世界记载以来发生的第三大地震——1920年海原大地震为背景，写了一个幸存者背负着为三个姓氏传宗接代的命运挣扎，时间跨度近百年，人物的命运在时代的大潮中浮沉。第二部《上庄记》写城镇化进程中农民奔命一般逃离故土，抛弃故土，农村的凋落衰败与留守者的哀伤与在悲苦，成为中国偏远落后乡村世界的全景式写照。而且，衔接上了中断多年的“问题小说”之线，赵树理式的隐忧与焦虑在小说中此起彼伏。第三部《锦绣记》则以一个叫锦绣的城中村为背景，书写了两代农村人进入城市，在城市里奋斗、生存的生命过程中所呈现出来的精神状态与心灵皈依。

　　季栋梁正值创作旺盛期，他正在创作的三十余万字的长篇小说《不系之舟》，以一个知识分子在风云变幻的时代浪潮中，颠沛流离渺茫浮沉的一生为主题。

　　季栋梁

　　Ji Dongliang

　　Ji Dongliang was born on April 14, 1963, in Changningyi Village, located in Gansu province’s Zhangjiachuan County. Graduating in 1982 from Ningxia Normal University and currently the vice-chairman of the Ningxia Writers Association, Ji’s most representative works include The Shang Village Chronicles, The Jinxiu Chronicles, The Book of Haiyuan, The Night Is Longer Than the Day, The Distance Between Me and the World and Roaring the Night. On several occasions his works have been listed among the rankings of the Chinese Fiction Association, New Works of Chinese Contemporary Literature, and the magazine “Selected Stories”. His works have been awarded prizes from such publications as “Selected Stories”, “Chinese Novelists” and “Beijing Literature”. His works Speaking to Wood and Roaring the Night received, respectively, the 3rd and 5th “Lu Xun Literature Award”. The Shang Village Chronicles was awarded the 2014 “Chinese Good Book” prize, the “Five One Project Award” and the “Beijing Literature and Arts Award”. Ji’s work The Jinxiu Chronicles was listed among the rankings of “Chinese Good Books”, the “Beijing Publishing House Ten Best Reads” and the “Wenyi Lianhe Booklist”.

　　In the words of Ji himself : “Literature comes from the soul, from your experiences, from the force of your feelings, and from what you have read.” Born in a remote village cut off from the outside world, Ji has always paid great attention to the trials and tribulations of the rural population. With characters and storylines brimming with yearning and struggle, his works focus on the “old way of life”. At the same time, however, the artistry within them is palpable. Speaking of one of the characters in The Shang Village Chronicles, one critic said that the image of the old village chief was such that it “gave him a literary luster similar to that of Zhao Shuli’s ‘middle characters’ and imbued him with the ethical and moral essence of the present day. In this way, the old village chief becomes something of a model character, akin to what Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel calls ‘this thing’. Precisely because of this, this character’s special image has become an enriching presence in contemporary literature gallery of characters.”

　　Ji Dongliang’s “Farmer Trilogy” focuses intimately on the fates of those living in the countryside. The first installment — The Book of Haiyuan — is set against the backdrop of the 1920 Haiyuan earthquake, the third most powerful earthquake ever recorded in human history. The book tells the story of one survivor’s struggle as they shoulder the burden to help continue the lineages of three families. The story’s timeline stretches for almost a century, the fates of its characters rising and falling with the waves of passing eras. The Shang Village Chronicles, the trilogy’s second installment, tells the story of farmers fleeing from — abandoning, even — their hometowns in a time of urbanization. The withering decline of villages and the miserable grief of those that remain fill the panorama of China’s remote and backward countryside. Following the thread that disrupted the “problem literature” of post-May Fourth Movement China, Zhao Shuli-esque concerns and anxieties come and go successively throughout the book. The third installment of the trilogy — The Jinxiu Chronicles — is set in an urban shantytown called Jinxiu, and follows two generations of villagers as they enter the urban world. We read of the psychological states and changing spiritualities that are born of their struggles and survival in the city.

　　Ji is in the very midst of his most prolific period. An Untied Boat, the more-than 300,000-word novel he is currently writing, tells the story of one intellectual’s desperate, uncertain, and tumultuous life as they navigate the ever-changing currents of time.