Yang Lian was a fellow of Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin for 2012 / 2013. he is a guest-professor of Nanjing University of the Arts, The Arts College of Hebei University and Yangzhou University. Since 2014, he was invited to be a distinguished professor and a writer in residency in Shantou University, Guangdong Province, China. In 2013, he was invited to become a member of The Norwegian Academy for Literature and Freedom of Expression. Along with fellow Misty Poets, he has reportedly been nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature.