Literature · Film · Living
Born: 17 February 1955 · Age: 71
Mo Yan is 71 years old as of October 2026. He was born on 17 February 1955.
Chinese novelist of Red Sorghum and Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out who won the 2012 Nobel Prize in Literature
Did you know?His pen name translates to 'don't speak', a nickname he adopted as a reminder to avoid causing trouble in his home country.
Mo Yan turned the villages of his childhood into some of modern China's most powerful fiction. He grew up in rural Gaomi in Shandong, left school during the Cultural Revolution and later joined the People's Liberation Army. His pen name means 'don't speak', a reminder of his parents' warnings about talking too freely. His novel Red Sorghum, about a family in the war against Japan, became a celebrated film by Zhang Yimou. Novels such as The Garlic Ballads, Big Breasts and Wide Hips and Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out mix folk tale, black comedy and brutal realism. In 2012 he won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Critics debated his closeness to the Communist Party.
Mo Yan (born Guan Moye (simplified Chinese: 管谟业; traditional Chinese: 管謨業; pinyin: Guǎn Móyè; born 5 March 1955), is a Chinese writer.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
Profile
Chinese novelist, born 1955
Mo Yan was born in Gaomi, Shandong, on 17 February 1955.
He published Red Sorghum in 1986.
Its film version won the Golden Bear in 1988.
He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2012.
Career highlights
Did you know?His real name is Guan Moye.
Questions people ask
b. 1963
b. 1981
b. 1991
1925–2021
1888–1969
1836–1870Missing someone? Suggest them
1809–1865
1911–2004
1809–1882
1756–1791A newspaper from their birth date
The front page from the day they were born, a classic keepsake.
Shop on AmazonAquarius zodiac gifts
Jewellery, prints and candles for the Aquarius in your life.
Shop on EtsyStar map of February 17
A custom print of the night sky on their birthday.
Shop on EtsyMilestone birthday gifts
Ideas for 18th, 30th, 40th, 50th and beyond.
Shop on AmazonWe may earn a small commission from purchases, at no extra cost to you.
Reviewed by the Who Shares My Birthday editorial team.
Last reviewed: October 2026