A reading of the mentors and mentees from the first year of the She Who Has No Master(s) mentorship program. She Who Has No Master(s) is a collective of womxn and nonbinary writers of the Vietnamese diaspora who engage in collaborative, polyvocal, and hybrid-poetic works to enact a politics of connection across diasporic boundaries. Our mentorship activities are uniquely designed for and led by women and nonbinary writers of the Vietnamese and SE Asian diaspora. This reading will feature: Hoa Nguyen/Lauren Bullock, Lily Hoang/Erin O’Brien, Diana Khoi Nguyen/Rachel Ton That, and Vi Khi Nao/Quyên Nguyễn-Hoàng.
Hoa Nguyen is a poet and educator. Her books include Red Juice: Poems 1998 - 2008 and the Griffin Prize-nominated Violet Energy Ingots. Her latest collection of poems, A Thousand Times You Lose Your Treasure was a finalist for a 2021 National Book Award, the General Governor’s Literary Award, and the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. She currently serves as a Visiting Practitioner for Toronto Metropolitan University and Co-Chair of Writing at Bard MFA. She’s an Aquarius and a Fire Horse.
Lauren Bullock is a queer genderfluid multiracial writer, performer, teacher, events organizer, and model. Lauren’s work appears on AFROPUNK.com, Button Poetry, The Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, The Human Rights Campaign, and more. Lauren earned acclaim for pop culture commentary through editorials on Black Nerd Problems and serving as poetry editor for FreezeRay Poetry. To date, Lauren has organized 7 international and regional arts conferences or festivals, and 5 monthly series. Lauren’s modeling work has been featured by publications such as Gmaro Magazine and Out-and-Out Magazine. When not creating Lauren enjoys fighting crime as a costumed vigilante of many aliases.
Lily Hoang is the author of six books, including Underneath (winner of the Red Hen Press Fiction Award), A Bestiary (PEN/USA Non-Fiction Award finalist), and Changing (recipient of a PEN/Open Books Award). Her micro-tale collection The Mute Kids is forthcoming. She is the Director of the MFA in Writing at UC San Diego.
Genevieve Erin O’Brien (they/them) is a Queer, Non-binary, mixed race, transdisciplinary artist, activist, chef, storyteller and narrative strategist. Through food, performance, animation, video, installation, fiber/material arts and social practice, O’Brien's artistic practice explores themes of identity, liberation, community and decolonization. O’Brien, once a butcher’s apprentice, is also a private chef and owner of sausage enterprise Meat My Friends. Erin O’Brien is a fermentation fanatic, sourdough enthusiast, pasta maker and dumpling lover. (based in Los Angeles, CA)
A poet and multimedia artist, Diana Khoi Nguyen is the author of Ghost Of (Omnidawn 2018) which was a finalist for the National Book Award, and forthcoming collection, Root Fractures (Scribner 2024). Nguyen is a Kundiman fellow, recipient of a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and winner of the 92Y Discovery Poetry Contest, and 2019 Kate Tufts Discovery Award. Currently, she is core faculty in the Randolph College Low-Residency MFA and an Assistant Professor at the University of Pittsburgh.
Rachel TonThat is a conceptual artist and writer working between Zurich and New York. She is part of the art book duo, Oreades Press, and her climate storytelling project, Impermanent Earth, was funded by the International Project Fund of ZHdK, where she recently completed a MA in Fine Art. Her writing has been published in The Forgetory, Sine Theta Magazine, and Diacritics.
Vi Khi Nao is the author of six poetry collections: Fish Carcass (Black Sun Lit, 2022), A Bell Curve Is A Pregnant Straight Line (11:11 Press, 2021), Human Tetris (11:11 Press, 2019) Sheep Machine (Black Sun Lit, 2018), Umbilical Hospital (Press 1913, 2017), The Old Philosopher (winner of the Nightboat Prize for 2014), & of the short stories collection, A Brief Alphabet of Torture (winner of the 2016 FC2's Ronald Sukenick Innovative Fiction Prize), the novel, Fish in Exile (Coffee House Press, 2016). Her work includes poetry, fiction, film and cross-genre collaboration. Her first play, Waiting for God, is out of Apocalypse Party in January 2022. She was the Fall 2019 fellow at the Black Mountain Institute. https://www.vikhinao.com/
Quyên Nguyễn-Hoàng is a poet-translator born in Việt Nam. Her work has appeared in Poetry, the Margins, Jacket2, and other venues. She is studying at Stanford University.
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