Mao’s Last Dancer Li Cunxin on his long-awaited follow-up: ‘I don’t think my publisher expected it to take 14 years!’

Key points

• Ballet dancer Li Cunxin has released The Lucky Son, his second memoir, 14 years after Mao's Last Dancer. The book picks up as Cunxin and his wife Mary move to Houston Ballet.
• It also traces the family's experience of raising their deaf daughter Sophie, whose 2015 email to her parents prompted them to learn Auslan. Cunxin later became artistic director of Queensland Ballet, where he oversaw a new home for the company, the Thomas Dixon Centre.
• He says ballet remains special despite concerns about artificial intelligence.