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 41: Danez Smith
Episode 40: Kaveh Akbar
Episode 39: Erika L. Sánchez
Episode 38: Sharon Olds
Episode 37: Sheila Heti and Sarah Manguso
Episode 36: Dialogue Arts Project
Episode 35: Aracelis Girmay
Episode 34: Dr. Joshua Bennett
Episode 33: Sabrina Orah Mark
Episode 32: Laynie Browne
Episode 31: Carmen Giménez Smith
Episode 30: Sarah Vap
Episode 29: Molly Peacock
Episode 28: Poems for Mother's Day
Episode 27: Rita Dove
Episode 26: Alice Notley
Episode 25: Ross Gay
Episode 24: Julie Carr
Episode 23: Morgan Parker
Episode 22: Undocupoets 2 — Javier Zamora, Marcelo Hernandez Castillo, and Janine Joseph
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