May Lee-Yang, also known as May Lee ( RPA: ''Mev Lis Yaj'',

Pahawh Pahawh Hmong (Romanized Popular Alphabet, RPA: Phaj hauj Hmoob , Pahawh: ; known also as ''Ntawv Pahawh, Ntawv Keeb, Ntawv Caub Fab, Ntawv Soob Lwj'') is an indigenous Semi-syllabary, semi-syllabic writing system, script, invented in 1959 by Sh ...

: '), is a

Hmong American Hmong Americans ( RPA: ''Hmoob Mes Kas'', Pahawh Hmong: "") are Americans of Hmong ancestry. Many Hmong Americans immigrated to the United States as refugees in the late 1970s, with a second wave in the 1980s and 1990s. Over half of the Hmong ...

playwright, poet, prose writer, performance artist and community activist in

Saint Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (often abbreviated St. Paul) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County, Minnesota, Ramsey County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, ...

, United States. She was born in Ban Vinai Refugee Camp in Thailand and moved to

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

as a child with her family. She is also the executive director of the non-profit organization Hmong Arts Connection.

Theater

Her theater-based works include ''Confessions of a Lazy Hmong Woman'', ''Sia(b)'', ''Ten Reasons Why I'd Be a Bad Porn Star'', ''Stir-Fried Pop Culture'', and ''The Child's House''. Her work has been produced through

Mu Performing Arts Theater Mu, (Formerly Mu Performing Arts), located in Saint Paul, Minnesota, is an Asian American arts organization in the Midwest, the second largest in the country. According to Mu's website, the company name "Mu" is "the Korean pronunciation of ...

, the Center for Hmong Art and Talent (CHAT), Out North Theater, Kaotic Good Productions,

Intermedia Arts Twin Cities hip hop, also referred to as Minneapolis hip hop, is sub-genre of rap music that originates from the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Minnesota. History Hip hop culture in the Twin Cities can be traced ...

, and the

Minnesota Fringe Festival The Minnesota Fringe Festival is a performing arts festival held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, every summer, usually during the first two weeks in August. The eleven-day event, which features performing artists of many genres and dis ...

as well as toured to various locations around the Midwest.

Writing

Her writing has appeared in the '' Paj Ntaub Voice'' Hmong literary journal, ''The Saint Paul Almanac'' (Arcata Press), ''Cheers to Muses: Contemporary Works by Asian American Women'' (Asian American Women Association), ''To Sing Along the Way: Minnesota Women Poets From Pre-Territorial Days to the Present'' (New Rivers Press), ''Fiction on a Stick'' (Milkweed Editions) ''Unarmed'', the '' Bamboo Among the Oaks'' anthology (Borealis Press), ''Water~Stone Literary Review'' (Hamline University), ''Sounds In This House: An Anthology from the National Book Foundation Writing Camp'' (National Book Foundation", and ''Hmong Movement''. Text by Lee-Yang accompanies light box-mounted photography by Pao Houa Her at

Hmongtown Marketplace Hmongtown Marketplace is an indoor-outdoor marketplace focused on Hmong American products and culture in the Frogtown, Saint Paul, Minnesota, Frogtown neighborhood of Saint Paul, Minnesota. Hmongtown was the first Hmong-owned and operated marketpl ...

, Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Performance work

She was a member of the Hmong and Lao spoken word group, F.I.R.E. (Free Inspiring Rising Elements) and performed regularly at several Minnesota venues including the Fringe Festival, Intermedia Arts, Hmong Fest, Patrick’s Cabaret,

the Loft Literary Center The Loft Literary Center is a non-profit literary organization located in Minneapolis, Minnesota incorporated in 1975. The Loft is a large and comprehensive independent literary center which offers a variety of writing classes, conferences, grant ...

, and local universities and colleges. May Lee-Yang has also been an actress and performed for Pom Siab Hmoob Theatre (currently a part of the Center for Hmong Arts and Talent) in the play, ''Hmong Tapestry: Voices from the Cloth''. Venues for the play included schools, college campuses, conferences, and community sites throughout

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

, and

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

from 1997 through 2001.

Selected awards

* Midwestern Voices and Vision Artist Residency administered through the

Alliance of Artists Communities Artist Communities Alliance (ACA), formerly known as Alliance of Artists Communities, is an international non-profit arts organization. Founded in 1991 following a pilot program and recommendation through the MacArthur Foundation, the organizat ...

(2010) * Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant for Theater (2009) and Literature (2005) * National Performance Network Creation Fund Grant for Theater (2008) * Intermedia Arts/Jerome Foundation's Naked Stages Fellowship (2008) * Playwright Center Many Voices Fellowship (2008, 2002) * The Loft Literary Center's Mentorship Program in Creative Non-Fiction (2005) *

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

Anna Augusta Von Helmholtz-Phelan Anna Augusta Von Helmholtz-Phelan (September 22, 1880 – January 10, 1964) was an American university professor, author, speaker, poet, and social activist. For more than four decades she taught English and creative writing at the University of M ...

Award for Creative Writing (2001)

References

External links

May Lee Yang official websiteMay Lee Yang and VISION article in Hmong TodayMay Lee Yang article in Hmong Times

3 Minute Egg Coverage of May Lee-Yang's work

TC Daily Planet Interviews May Lee-Yang about the Midwestern Voices and Visions Residency Award

Pioneer Press review of "Sia(b)"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee-Yang, May Living people Hmong activists American writers of Hmong descent Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women writers Hmong women 21st-century American writers Thai emigrants to the United States Writers from Minnesota American women dramatists and playwrights 21st-century American dramatists and playwrights American performance artists American women performance artists Hmong American people from Minneapolis–Saint Paul