Diana Khoi Nguyen is an American poet and multimedia artist. Her first book, ''Ghost Of'', was a finalist for The 2018

National Book Award for Poetry The National Book Award for Poetry is one of five annual National Book Awards, which are given by the National Book Foundation to recognize outstanding literary work by US citizens. They are awards "by writers to writers".

. She is currently an assistant professor at the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...

. Her second book, ''Root Fractures'', was released in 2024.

Life

Nguyen was born and raised in Los Angeles, and received her MFA from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. She currently lives in Pittsburgh, where she is an assistant professor in Creative Writing at the

. She won the 92Y's Discovery / ''

Boston Review ''Boston Review'' is an American quarterly political and literary magazine. It publishes political, social, and historical analysis, literary and cultural criticism, book reviews, fiction, and poetry, both online and in print. Its signature form ...

'' 2017 Poetry Contest and the Omnidawn Open Book Contest. She has received the

Academy of American Poets The Academy of American Poets is a national, member-supported organization that promotes poets and the art of poetry. The nonprofit organization was incorporated in the state of New York in 1934. It fosters the readership of poetry through outrea ...

University Prize, as well as awards and scholarships from Key West Literary Seminars, Bread Loaf Writers Conference, Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, Community of Writers at Squaw Valley, and Bucknell University. She is a

Kundiman Kundiman is a genre of traditional Filipino ballads, predominantly with romantic themes. The lyrics of the kundiman are written in Tagalog. The melody is characterized by a smooth, flowing and gentle rhythm with dramatic intervals. Kundima ...

fellow.

''Ghost Of''

''Ghost Of'' was a finalist for The National Book Award in Poetry in 2018. In the foreword,

Terrance Hayes Terrance Hayes (born November 18, 1971) is an American poet and educator who has published seven poetry collections. His 2010 collection, ''Lighthead'', won the National Book Award for Poetry in 2010. In 2014, he received a MacArthur Fellowship ...

called it a collection of “exile and elegy.” Nguyen says ''Ghost Of'' was written for everyone affected by the Vietnam War, including her family and her brother Oliver, who took his own life in 2014. "''Ghost Of'' seeks to understand his death, familial, transnational, and intergenerational trauma—all the silences and secrets. It is a radical eulogy for and to Oliver, because I wish I could still converse with my brother," Nguyen said in

Literary Hub ''Literary Hub'' or ''LitHub'' is a daily literary website that was launched in 2015 by Grove Atlantic president and publisher Morgan Entrekin, American Society of Magazine Editors Hall of Fame editor Terry McDonell, and '' Electric Literatur ...

in 2018. Nguyen says she likes to write in intense 15-day bursts throughout the year, and that ''Ghost Of'' was written over just 30 days in 2016. ''

Publishers' Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of Bo ...

'' said of ''Ghost Of'': "Though devastating, Nguyen’s impressive lyrico-visual rendering details survival despite overwhelming tragedy." ''

The Kenyon Review ''The Kenyon Review'' is a literary magazine based in Gambier, Ohio, home of Kenyon College. ''The Review'' was founded in 1939 by John Crowe Ransom, critic and professor of English at Kenyon College, who served as its editor until 1959. ''T ...

'' said: "Nguyen’s book feels populated not so much by 'experimental' poetry as by poetry that is shaped by suffering; the poems are the exact shape they have to be to accommodate, and attempt to bear, the weight of tragedy...One of the most compelling aspects about this elegy is the dispensation of melodrama that so often accompanies great pain. Nguyen’s book is a bare recounting of the experience of grief more than the circumstances that led to it. It reads like cartography, with the speaker mapping a territory that keeps reshaping itself. The poems are not attempts toward healing so much as attempts to be rigorously honest about the experience of trying to heal but failing, thinking one is healed only for the wound again to start oozing." ''

Booklist ''Booklist'' is a publication of the American Library Association that provides critical reviews of books and audiovisual materials for all ages. ''Booklist''s primary audience consists of libraries, educators, and booksellers. The magazine is ...

'' said in a review: "Haunting, incisive, and exceptionally spare, Nguyen’s shape-shifting poems confront death, displacement, and the emptiness within and around us."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nguyen, Diana Khoi American women poets 1985 births Living people American artists of Vietnamese descent American writers of Vietnamese descent 21st-century American women