Li-Young Lee

Li-Young Lee (李立揚, pinyin: Lǐ Lìyáng) (born August 19, 1957) is an American poet. He was born in Jakarta, Indonesia, to Chinese parents. who attempted to make himself emperor. Lee's father, who was a personal physician to Mao Zedong while in China, relocated his family to Indonesia, where he helped found Gamaliel University. In 1959 the Lee family fled Indonesia to escape widespread anti-Chinese sentiment and after a five-year trek through Hong Kong and Japan, they settled in the United States in 1964. Li-Young Lee attended the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Arizona, and the State University of New York Brockport.

Development as a poet Lee attended the University of Pittsburgh, where he began to develop his love for writing poems. He had seen his father find his passion for ministry and as a result of his father reading to him and encouraging Lee to find his passion, Lee began to dive into the art of language. Lee's writing has also been influenced by classic Chinese poets, such as Li Bai and Du Fu. Lee, could only find spiritual refuge in penning down the meaning of life or its roots in the various poetry as his memory reel before his eyes. His family life experiences, and his varied mindset of its journey are left formulated in deep thoughts in poems such as Self-Help for Refugees, Immigrant Blues and Station. None of these compositions record a sound of new life experiences embraced with an iota of joy or excitement of 'new beginnings', as the original root had already suddenly been pulled and uprooted for him.

Lee's influence on Asian American poetry Li-Young Lee has been an established Asian American poet who has been doing interviews for the past twenty years. Breaking the Alabaster Jar: Conversations with Li-Young Lee (BOA Editions, 2006, ed. Earl G. Ingersoll), is the first edited and published collection of interviews with an Asian American poet. In this book, Earl G. Ingersoll has collected interviews with the poet consisting of "conversational" questions meant to bring out Lee's views on Asian American poetry, writing, and identity.

Awards and honors Lee has won numerous poetry awards: 1986: Delmore Schwartz Memorial Award, from New York University, for Rose 1988: Whiting Award 1990: Lamont Poetry Selection for The City in Which I Love You 1995: Lannan Literary Award 1995: American Book Award, from the Before Columbus Foundation, for The Wingéd Seed: A Remembrance 2002: William Carlos Williams Award for Book of My Nights (American Poets Continuum) Judge: Carolyn Kizer 2003: Fellowship of the Academy of American Poets, which does not accept applications and which includes a $25,000 stipend 2024: Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, for outstanding lifetime achievement, Poetry Foundation Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Grant, Illinois Arts Council Grant, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Grant, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts

Other recognition 2011: Lee's poem ″A Story″ was featured in the AP English Literature and Composition 2011 Free-Response Questions.

Selected bibliography Poetry 1986: Rose. Rochester: BOA Editions Limited, 1990: The City In Which I Love You. Rochester: BOA Editions Limited, 2001: Book of My Nights. Rochester: BOA Editions Limited, 2008: Behind My Eyes. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2018: The Undressing. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2024: The Invention of the Darling: Poems. W.W. Norton & Co.,

Memoir The Winged Seed: A Remembrance. (hardcover) New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995. ASIN: B000NGRB2G (paperback) St. Paul: Ruminator, 1999.