Artist-activist Ai Weiwei to publish memoir in 2017

Ai Weiwei, the Chinese artist, activist and dissident, is working on a memoir.

The Penguin Random House division Crown announced Wednesday that it would release the book in the spring of 2017.

Currently untitled, Ai's memoir will cover everything from his time living in the United States in the 1980s and '90s to his numerous clashes with Chinese authorities.

Ai often uses his work to draw attention to injustices in China. He also played a key role in designing the Bird's Nest Beijing National Stadium ahead of the 2008 Olympics, a project he later said he regretted.

His activism led Chinese authorities to destroy his Shanghai studio and detain him for 81 days in 2011, leading the subsequent confiscation of his passport for four years.

Now allowed to travel freely

News of the memoir comes as Ai's relationship with Chinese officials appears to be improving. In July, the government returned the artist's passport, allowing him to travel freely. 

Still, the outspoken artist doesn't seem to be pulling any punches with his upcoming book.

"I write about my father, his generation, and my own experience, our struggle for individual freedom and self-expression in this old society. I live in a totalitarian society (so did my father), which denies human freedom and values. Eliminating individual memories is an important method that authorities use to control people's thinking," Ai said in a statement issued by Crown.

"Such political culture has made it extremely difficult to write down one's memory or those of a family. Totalitarianism contravenes human nature and human ideals. The history of totalitarianism is one characterized by the state's continuous attempts to destroy individual memories."

Ai's father, Ai Qing, was one of China's most important 20th-century poets. He was an early intimate of Mao Zedong, but was later branded a "Rightist" and banished to the Gobi desert, where he performed five years of hard labour. 

"Ai Weiwei is one of the most galvanizing and inspired artists in the world today and a true force of conscience. Beyond serving as a timely reminder of the urgent need to protect freedom of expression, the publication of his memoir will offer a global readership unique insight into what animates his astonishing life and work as well as a deeper understanding of the myriad forces that have shaped modern China," said Molly Stern, Crown Publishing's senior vice-president.