Monday, February 26, 2024

Workshop "Wanderlust: Distance and Intimacy in Poetry" at IWWG Sunday, March 3rd 12:00 EST / 18:00 CET

Join me online at the International Women's Writing Guild for a two-hour workshop at 12:00 EST / 18:00 CET where we'll wander and revel in poetry! Let's create some lustful metaphors, and use distance to create surprising emotional landscapes. We'll explore Lyn Hejinia's poetic theories, pieces from some of my favorite poets and dive into writing exercises. Hope to see you there! Register at: https://iwwg.org/event-5603029


Sunday, October 8, 2023

Poem "旦 [dan] daybreak" featured in Poetry Daily

Did you know there are 13 words for 'dawn' in Mandarin? This poem is part of a series where present each word as an experience, a landscape to traverse. I've always found dictionary translations of my mother tongue to be unsatisfying and limited, and so, I imagine a world where dictionaries are made of poems. Read here.

Thank you Poetry Daily for featuring this poem, and to Boulevard for first publishing it!



Friday, February 10, 2023

Runner up in Boulevard Magazine's Poetry Contest

Seems like just yesterday I was in high school, sitting on the floor of Barnes & Noble, reading Boulevard Magazine for the first time and dreaming of seeing my name in its pages one day. Now Boulevard has selected me as runner up to their 2022 Poetry Contest. My poems will be in the next issue. Thank you Boulevard for this privilege and for sowing the seeds in my fifteen-year old heart!


Monday, July 25, 2022

Poem Collaboration "Slant / Diptych" in Brooklyn Rail Magazine

Ever since I first picked up a copy of the Brooklyn Rail at McNally Jackson years ago, I wanted to be a part of it. Now thanks to Dr. Michelle Yee, this poem written in dialogue to her brilliant work on contemporary Asian-American Art is now out in Brooklyn Rail! I loved writing from Michelle's ideas of "in-betweenness," how to create and break boundaries within the "master's language," and how to celebrate the joys of being an Asian-American woman.

Read the poem collaboration here.

So inspired by Amy Sadao and Suzette Min's introduction to the series: "Abolition of a Category" featuring Asian-American scholars and artists. Let's remake the canon!

If you happen to be in NYC, please do pick up a print copy and send me a pic! Would love to see how it looks in real ink and paper.

Friday, July 22, 2022

Dogs! Revenge! 1st Person Plural! Story "Geraldine Foggs" published in Identity Theory


There's revenge! Dogs! Mysterious illness! Yuppies! Small town crimes! Revenge by dogs! "Geraldine Foggs" is now out with Identity Theory. It only takes 12 minutes and no cost at all to read here.

This story about a cleaning woman with a crooked son and an unexplained blindness is told from the perspective of the town. I've always loved the first person plural. Anthony Doerr's "For A Long Time, This was Griselda's Story" and Jeffrey Eugenides' Virgin Suicides are gorgeous examples. It took me several drafts over the years to get the point-of-view and magical realism atmosphere right. A good reminder to keep editing and don't give up on your favorite stories. 

Can't thank enough editor extraordinaire Sophie Newman who helped me land the ending, and Matt Borondy for bringing me into the Identity Theory community, and who found the perfect photo to go with this piece.

Wednesday, October 20, 2021

Correspondence with an Artist: Naming Nature, Creating in the Pandemic and More

Would you save what you can't name? How do you create in a pandemic? What do the minutiae of art/poetry do for this big world? Artist Leigh Ann Beavers and I tackle the tough questions, and more!

Read at: shenandoahliterary.org/thepeak/a-correspondence-yun-wei-leigh-ann-beavers




Thursday, October 14, 2021

Story "It Was A Watermelon Love" in The Boiler!




New story about young love, old regrets and lots of bad-good art now out with The Boiler !
What would you do if you had a chance to see a past love after decades? Would you meet them or run the other way so that you can freeze those perfect memories? Would you even recognize each other?

Inspired by sunny days in Provence and lots of tipsy gallery openings in NYC, this story took me a year to perfect... and it's less than 5 minutes to read! Don't know about you but sounds like a good deal to me.