China bars author and poet from festival

China has barred a prominent author and poet from attending a literary festival in Australia, the Guardian and others report.

Liao Yiwu, known for searing poetry and prose often critical of the Chinese regime, was blocked last month from attending a PEN literary event in New York, apparently another casualty of China's ongoing crackdown on critical voices.

Liao spent four years in prison after China's bloody crackdown on the 1989 Tiananmen uprising, and has been monitored closely in the two decades since.

His current book, "The Corpse Walker," explores China's darker sides, with revealing, deeply personal stories and interviews of people who live on the fringes on society — from a professional mourner to a human trafficker.

In a forward to the English translation of the book, journalist Philip Gourevitch calls Liao "a ringmaster of the human cirus."