1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows: A Memoir is a 2021 memoir by Ai Weiwei. Allan H. Barr is the translator of the English version. Crown published the book in the United States, and Bodley Head published the book in the United Kingdom.
Background
While he had been incarcerated, Ai decided to chronicle his own biography because he wanted to leave a record of his life for his child, Ai Weiwei also wrote the book as a way of resolving how he felt he had, in the words of Jiayang Fan of The New York Times, an "unbridgeable gap" with Ai Qing. ==Contents==
The BBC hosted an audio reading done by Benedict Wong. ==Reception==
Reception
Joan Gaylord of the Christian Science Monitor described the book as "A fascinating biography" and "a testament to that creative spirit." Publishers Weekly gave a starred review, and argued that the book "easily sits in the top tier of dissident writing." Kirkus Reviews described it as "beautiful and poignant". Kate Taylor of The Globe and Mail described the portions about Ai Qing as being "Perhaps the most gripping". ==See also==