Rachel Zucker speaks with poet, editor, teacher and former marketing consultant Victoria Chang about what writing in the third person makes possible, the liberation of formal constraints, mom-on-mom violence, how the literary community has changed over the years, how poetry finds us, shame, masks, letting poems tell you what to do, loving editing more than writing, community and difference, and the many kinds of literary and non-literary labor each of them does. They speak about Victoria’s recent book Barbie Chang and about Victoria’s forthcoming book, Obit, and so much more.
Books by Victoria Chang
Barbie Chang (Copper Canyon, 2017)
Is Mommy? (With Marla Frazee) (Beach Lane, 2015)
The Boss (McSweeney’s, 2013)
Salvinia Molesta (University of Georgia Press, 2008)
Circle (Crab Orchard/Southern Illinois University Press, 2005)
Asian American Poetry: The Next Generation (Editor) (University of Illinois Press, 2004)
Other Books and Writers Mentioned in the Episode
Chen Chen
Kristin Chang
Fatimah Asghar
Paige Lewis
Kaveh Akbar
Cathy Park Hong
Mary Ruefle
Louise Glück
Jorie Graham
Anne Carson
Terrance Hayes
Ilya Kaminsky
Other Relevant Links
Commonplace interview with Richard Siken
Commonplace interview with Ilya Kaminsky
Victoria Chang at McSweeney’s
Copper Canyon Press
Antioch University
CalArts School of Critical Studies
Episode 61: Rosa Alcalá (Translation Series, Ep. 1)
Episode 60: Robin Coste Lewis
Episode 59: Alison S. M. Kobayashi
Episode 58: Cate Marvin
Episode 57: Dorothea Lasky
Episode 56: Jennifer Kronovet
Episode 55: Anne Waldman
Episode 54: Gerald Stern
Episode 53: Tommy Pico
Episode 52: Richard Siken
Episode 51: TC Tolbert
Episode 50: Inside Commonplace
Episode 49: CAConrad
Episode 48: Poets at MacDowell: Destiny Birdsong, Juleen Johnson, Jenny George, Eloisa Amezcua, & Amanda Galvan Huynh
Episode 47: Erin Riley
Episode 46: Allison Parrish
Episode 45: Tyehimba Jess
Episode 44: Matthew Zapruder
Episode 43: Airea D. Matthews
Episode 42: Gabrielle Calvocoressi
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