Gao Xingjian. Having left China in 1987 to take up French citizenship, Gao Xingjian has pursued a singular career as a novelist, critic, playwright and painter. His books include Soul Mountain and in 2000 he was the first writer with a Chinese background to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. He has recently published Ballade Nocturne, which he describes as 'a libretto for a dance performance'. He discusses his life and his extraordinary body of work in this event.