As April’s end marks the conclusion of National Poetry Month, the beginning of May indicates Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month. With this, the writing created by Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders can often go unnoticed. By educating ourselves about their work, they are able to share their stories with us.
Rupi Kaur
Born in Punjab, India, Rupi Kaur is a Canadian-Indian poet with numerous books published surrounding themes of girlhood and femininity. Her style of writing involves minimal capitalization and explicitly direct line breaks. Kaur’s book, Milk and Honey, has sold more than a million copies. She also shares her work across social media, with an Instagram following of over 4 million.
Lang Leav
Lang Leav’s love of writing began during childhood. She was born in a refugee camp in Thailand and spent formative years in Australia, now living in New Zealand. Leav’s prose-poetry style of confessional writing has made her a bestselling poet and novelist. Her first book, Love and Misadventure, was published back in 2013 and began her career as a writer. Other works like Lullabies have won her the Goodreads Choice Award in Best Poetry. She’s also won the Churchill Fellowship and the Qantas Spirit of Youth Award.
Ocean Vuong
A Vietnamese-American writer, Ocean Vuong is the winner of the 2017 T.S. Eliot Prize, 2014 Ruth Lilly/Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Foundation fellowship, and others. Vuong is the author of New York Times Bestselling Novel, as well as On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, Time is a Mother, Burnings, Night Sky With Exit Wounds, and No. His work, taking the form of poetry and prose, explores themes of being an immigrant, war, trauma, and a queer identity.
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