Xiaoni graduated from Jilin University in 1982 where she was a literary editor and worked for a film studio.
In 1985, she settled in Shenzhen and became a professor at Hainan University.
She has published over 25 books of poetry[1] and won several awards.
[2] In 2015 the translation of her book Something Crosses My Mind by Eleanor Goodman was shortlisted for the International Griffin Poetry Prize.
[3] Other translations of her work have been published by poet Pascale Petit.