"The Drive" in the Adroit Journal & 2025 Veasna So Fiction Scholar

Thank you Adroit Journal for making me one of the 2025 Veasna So Fiction Scholars, and for publishing "The Drive!" Read here.

This story starts in DC the night of the 2016 U.S. elections and ends a decade later in Iceland.

I was inspired by the marriage of Clara Immerwahr and Fritz Haber. Haber had invented both the synthesis of ammonia which saved countless people from famine, and gas warfare in WWI. Clara was one of the first women to receive a doctorate in chemistry, but had devoted herself to supporting her husband's career, and was known as a pacifist. I tried to imagine what that relationship would look like today, with all its collisions, comforts and misunderstandings.

Finally, you can watch a reading of the Fiction Scholars on YouTube.

Unfortunately, I had connectivity issues joining from China, so I didn't quite finish what I intended to read, but luckily it's all available to read online, both the story in Adroit and "How to Catch the Sun" which first appeared in Wigleaf.

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

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!

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!

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.

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.

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