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Well, could be he's just been awarded a Fellowship in Creative Writing by the National Endowment for the Arts! That means $25,000, just for him, and all the status and free drinks a poet can stand.
The man is Bryan Thao Worra, and he's a Minnesota-based Laotian American poet. Bryan doesn't have an MFA or formal training, yet he recently won a 2008 Artist Initiative Grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board to market his second collection of poems, On the Other Side of the Eye, which is an exploration of Laotian American identity through fantasy, science fiction, spies, secret wars, and ancient history. Yes, he's unique.
Via email this week, Bryan sez:
ETA: You can read two of Bryan's poems in Hyphen issue 9.
December 6, 2008
Laotian American Poet is 2009 NEA Fellow!
Why is this man jumping?
Well, could be he's just been awarded a Fellowship in Creative Writing by the National Endowment for the Arts! That means $25,000, just for him, and all the status and free drinks a poet can stand.
The man is Bryan Thao Worra, and he's a Minnesota-based Laotian American poet. Bryan doesn't have an MFA or formal training, yet he recently won a 2008 Artist Initiative Grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board to market his second collection of poems, On the Other Side of the Eye, which is an exploration of Laotian American identity through fantasy, science fiction, spies, secret wars, and ancient history. Yes, he's unique.
And now my skeletal editors call on me
with their chattering skulls:
"Where are your words for Fa Ngum and Chao Anou,
or the fallen honored at the Patuxai?
In all of this time, surely one word about Vientiane
will not kill you or your friends."
It's hard to answer, sitting down to eat in July.
"Write what you know," my teachers admonish.
Sipping my soda, I turn the pages of a
weathered book of Van Gogh prints
inspired by Hokusai and the Ukiyo-e
and sigh.
My flag is as obsolete as the word Indochine, and
I realized today I am older than my father lived to be.
It's been too long since I last saw an elephant
or the monstrous river catfish.
They tell me somberly the freshwater Irrawaddy
will be extinct before the next time I come by.
I couldn't sketch any of them worth a damn if I tried.
A part of me wants to smack the next person
who says I won't be Lao if I don't write about Laos.
-- excerpt from "Japonisme, Laoisme"
Via email this week, Bryan sez:
As far as I can determine, I'm one of the first Laotian Americans to receive a fellowship for literature.And this is an important moment for him personally:
I make that distinction because previously, the National Endowment for the Arts has recognized Khamvong Insixiengmai, Mone & Vanxay Saenphimmachak who each received National Heritage Fellowships in the early 1990s, and Bounxou Chanthraphone in 2000. Bua Xou Mua received a National Heritage Fellowship in 1985, as did Yang Fang Nhu in 1988.
Khamvong Insixiengmai was recognized as for preserving the indigenous music of Laos, while Bounxou Chanthraphone, Yang Fang Nhu, Mone and Vanxay Saenphimmachak were recognized as weavers. Bua Xou Mua was recognized as a Hmong musician.
... On the one hand, I still run into a lot of people who are dismissive of my work and that of Laotian American writers in general, but on the other, I think the NEA Fellowship is a great vindication of our efforts and the directions we're taking in order to articulate our experience.
I got the call on the first day after Barack Obama got elected, and while I wasn't at the bottom then, I sure could see it from where I was.Congratulations, Bryan!
Sitting alone in my apartment in North Minneapolis, I'd been recently laid off from my work at a local non-profit. The economy being in the dumps meant finding a new job before the holidays was pretty bleak. I was broke, just about living off of ramen and gas station coffee creamer. No one was returning my phone calls. I even got a rejection letter from Normal Magazine that day. And I was running out of ink for my printer.
That's when (I) got the call from Dana Gioia, the head of the NEA, who was calling to personally congratulate me on being selected as recipient of an NEA Fellowship. Gioia hoped the recognition of the Fellowship and the NEA would help in my career.
"It's come at a pretty good time," I said.
ETA: You can read two of Bryan's poems in Hyphen issue 9.
Posted by Claire at December 6, 2008 11:15 AM
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bryan thao worra is a class act.
By the way, Bryan's writing was featured in Issue 9 of Hyphen.
This is super. Congrats Bryan!
Um the only word I know in Laotian is Sombody. However, I'm quite sure I missed spelled it, So so sorry! I was wondering off topic if you could email me and let me know how I could communicate with Loatians? Is there a way to learn the language?
Ps. very happy to see that you are living out your own dreams for there is much to learn about the culture! My daughter is part Loatian, but her Father Somboun never taught her anything about the language! Now I wish to communicate through letters but I do so in English, and I believe that if I could learn the language it might bring us closer?
Thanks for reading this. Praying for your Country and family in Christ!
Again grateful for your gifts!!!
Paige