An iron-willed mother, an ageing grandmother, a pair of mismatched dogs and 90 acres of less-than-ideal farmland: these are Li Juans companions on the steppes of the Gobi Desert. Writing out of a yurt under Xinjiang's endless horizons, she documents her family's quest to extract a bounty of sunflowers amid the harsh beauty and barren expanses of Chinas northwest frontier. Success must be eked out in the face of life's unnegotiable realities: sandstorms, locusts and death. While this small tribe is held at the mercy of these headwinds, they discover the cheer and dignity hidden in each other. But will their ceaseless labours deliver blooming fields of green and yellow? Or will their dreams prove as distant as they are fragile?
李娟：女，作家。1979年出生于新疆生产建设兵团农七师，成长时期辗转于四川新疆两地，有过一段阿勒泰牧场上的生活经历。
1999年开始发表作品，曾在《南方周末》《文汇报》等开设专栏，出版有散文集《九篇雪》《我的阿勒泰》《阿勒泰的角落》《走夜路请放声歌唱》《记一忘三二》等，长篇散文《冬牧场》及《羊道》三部曲，诗集《火车快开》。在读者中产生巨大反响。曾获“人民文学奖”“上海文学奖”“天山文艺奖”“朱自清散文奖”等，其中《阿勒泰的角落》在海外有法语版和韩语版发行。
