Amy Quan Barry (born

Saigon Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) ('','' TP.HCM; ), commonly known as Saigon (; ), is the most populous city in Vietnam with a population of around 14 million in 2025. The city's geography is defined by rivers and canals, of which the largest is Saigo ...

) is a Vietnamese American

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

, and

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

. She is a recipient of the Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize. Barry is a Lorraine Hansberry Professor of English at the

University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...

Biography

She was raised in

Danvers, Massachusetts Danvers is a New England town, town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, located on the Danvers River near the northeastern coast of Massachusetts. The suburb is a fairly short ride from Boston and is also in close proximity to the beach ...

, where she played on the Danvers High School

field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

team in the late 1980s. She graduated from the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

, with an MFA, and was a Wallace Stegner fellow at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

and the Diane Middlebrook poetry fellow at the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

. She teaches at the

. Her work has appeared in ''

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 ...

'', '' The Missouri Review'', ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'', ''Southeast Review'', and ''

Virginia Quarterly Review The ''Virginia Quarterly Review'' is a quarterly literary magazine that was established in 1925 by James Southall Wilson, at the request of University of Virginia president E. A. Alderman. This ''"National Journal of Literature and Discussio ...

''. In 2000, Barry's poetry book ''Asylum'' won the Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize and was a finalist for the 2002

Society of Midland Authors The Society of Midland Authors is an association of published authors from twelve American states: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. According to its constit ...

' poetry award. Barry spoke at an event hosted and sponsored by

Central Washington University Central Washington University (CWU) is a public university in Ellensburg, Washington, United States. Founded in 1891, the university consists of four divisions: the President's Division, Business and Financial Affairs, Operations, and Academi ...

and the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...

. In 2021, Barry was the final judge for the 2021 New American Poetry Prize. Barry's writing touches on a variety of genres, including

magical realism Magical realism, magic realism, or marvelous realism is a style or genre of fiction and art that presents a realistic view of the world while incorporating magical elements, often blurring the lines between speculation and reality. ''Magical rea ...

and

speculative fiction Speculative fiction is an umbrella term, umbrella genre of fiction that encompasses all the subgenres that depart from Realism (arts), realism, or strictly imitating everyday reality, instead presenting fantastical, supernatural, futuristic, or ...

Works

Novels

* *''We Ride Upon Sticks.'' Penguin Random House. 2020. *''When I'm Gone, Look for Me in the East.'' Penguin Random House. 2022.

Poetry collections

* * * *

Anthologies

* * *

Journals

* * *
"errata from the field: demographics", ''AGNI''
* ttp://www.kenyonreview.org/kro_full.php?file=barry.php "The impulsive man acts with fierceness", ''Kenyon Review'', April 2009
"Doug Flutie's 1984 Orange Bowl Hail Mary as Water into Fire ", ''Crossroads''"Cruz del Condor", ''Linebreak''

Awards and honors

*2010 Donald Hall Prize in Poetry, ''Water Puppets'' *2012

PEN Open Book Award The PEN Open Book Award (known as the Beyond Margins Award through 2009) is an award intended to foster racial and ethnic diversity within the literary and publishing communities, and works to establish access for diverse literary groups to the pub ...

, finalist, ''Water Puppets''

References

External links

University of Pittsburgh Press author pagePoetry Foundation profile"She Weeps Each Time You're Born", ''NPR''UW faculty page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barry, Quan Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize winners Poets from Wisconsin Writers from Wisconsin Vietnamese emigrants to the United States University of Michigan alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Stegner Fellows