Joseph O. Legaspi

Joseph O. Legaspi was born in the Philippines, where he lived before immigrating to Los Angeles with his family at age twelve. He received a BA from Loyola Marymount University and an MFA from New York University’s creative writing program.

A Fulbright scholar and two-time NYSCA/New York Foundation for the Arts poetry fellow, Legaspi is the author of Threshold (CavanKerry Press, 2017) and Imago (CavanKerry Press, 2007), winner of a Global Filipino Literary Award; as well as the chapbooks Postcards (Ghost Bird Press, 2019); Aviary, Bestiary (Organic Weapon Arts, 2014); and Subways (Thrush Press, 2013).

In 2004, Legaspi cofounded Kundiman, a national organization serving generations of writers and readers of Asian American literature. He works at Columbia University, and teaches at both New York University and Fordham University. He lives in Queens, New York. Legaspi was the Guest Editor for Poem-a-Day in January 2022.