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In this AAWW conversation moderated by Piyali Bhattacharya, writers with debut essay collections recently published, including Cathy Park Hong, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, and Sejal Shah, discuss Asian American identity, genre, gender, race, publishing, and the ways that the essay form has allowed writers to tell important stories.
In this Milkweed Editions video, Aimee Nezhukumatathil introduces torrin a. greathouse who reads from her debut poetry collection, Wound From the Mouth of a Wound (Milkweed Editions, 2020), winner of the Ballard Spahr Prize for Poetry. greathouse is featured in “A Life in Poetry: Our Sixteenth Annual Look at Debut Poets” in the January/February issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
“If a white girl tries to tell you what your brown skin can and cannot wear for makeup, just remember the smile of an axolotl.” In this video for Milkweed Editions, Aimee Nezhukumatathil discusses and reads from her debut essay collection, World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments, which was named the 2020 Barnes & Noble Book of the Year. For more, read a Q&A with Nezhukumatathil by Ross Gay from the September/October issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
“Every hand that once reached / for me still haunts me at the most unexpected times.” In this video, Aimee Nezhukumatathil reads a selection of poems covering her time as a high school mascot, bad reviews of the seven wonders of the world, and The Incredible Hulk for Poetry @ Tech in Atlanta. A Q&A with Nezhukumatathil by Ross Gay appears in the September/October issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
“This brown girl from Chicago also loves the outdoors.” In the book trailer for her fourth poetry collection, Oceanic (Copper Canyon Press, 2018), Aimee Nezhukumatathil describes her motivation for writing and her passion for the natural world. Her illustrated collection of nature essays, World of Wonder, is forthcoming from Milkweed Editions.
