Franny Choi
Franny Choi performing at a poetry slam
Franny Choi performing at a poetry slam
Born (1989-02-11) February 11, 1989
OccupationPoet
NationalityAmerican
Alma materUniversity of Michigan
GenreSlam poetry

Franny Choi (born February 11, 1989) is an American writer, poet and playwright.[1]

Personal life

Choi lived in Northampton, Massachusetts and now resides in Greenfield, Massachusetts.[2] Her fascination with poetry began when she was in the third or fourth grade. She enjoyed the action of ordering words together in such a way that they provided profound meaning. As her love for poetry grew, she began to identify and to use poetry as a means of coping with real life experiences. In high school, Choi was introduced to poet Allen Ginsberg and fell in love with poetry's spoken form. In college, she joined a group for marginalized spoken poets, called WORD!, which was her introduction to the world of slam poetry.[3] She has published poetry focusing on social activism and equality, which has won awards and been highlighted in many journals and magazines. She has competed in many slam poetry competitions, where she became increasingly known as a poet.

Education and career

Choi's parents are Choi Inyeong and Nam Songeun.[4] She is Korean-American. She graduated from Brown University with a B.A. in Literary Arts and Ethnic Studies in 2011 and received an M.F.A. from the Helen Zell Writers' Program at the University of Michigan in Poetry.[5] After graduating, she became a co-director of the Providence Poetry Slam. She founded the Dark Noise Collective with Fatimah Asghar, Danez Smith, Jamila Woods, Nate Marshall, and Aaron Samuels in 2012.[2]

Currently, Choi is working for Hyphen Magazine, a non-profit Asian culture publication, as News Editor. She is also a co-host with Danez Smith of the podcast VS.[6] She was a Gaius Charles Bolin Fellow in English at Williams College; in 2022 she joined the undergraduate Literature Faculty at Bennington College.

Awards

Choi is a two-time winner of the Rust-Belt Poetry Slam.[7]

Activism

Choi promotes social activism through her poetry and writing.[8] In her poem "Whiteness Walks Into A Bar," she brings to light the institutionalized racism in the United States.[9] She also advocates for feminism through her poetry, such as in "furiosa."[10] Choi curated a series of video poems by 12 queer Asian American and Pacific Islander poets for the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center.[11]

Bibliography

Books

  • Floating, Brilliant, Gone (Button Poetry, 2014)
  • Soft Science (Alice James Books, 2019)
  • The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On (Ecco, 2022)

Chapbooks

  • Death by Sex Machine (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2017)

References

  1. ↑ "Franny Choi". Retrieved 2018-12-09.
  2. 1 2 "About". FRANNY CHOI. Retrieved 2020-07-30.
  3. ↑ Cordero, Karla. "Interview with Franny Choi". Spit Journal. Retrieved 2018-12-11.
  4. ↑ "Choi Jeong Min by Franny Choi". 21 August 2022.
  5. ↑ "English". english.williams.edu. Retrieved 2020-07-30.
  6. ↑ "FRANNY CHOI". FRANNY CHOI. Retrieved 2020-07-30.
  7. ↑ "Franny Choi to Headline Wild Women of Poetry Slam". UKNow. 2019-09-19. Retrieved 2020-07-30.
  8. ↑ Segal, Corinne (30 November 2015). "Poet Franny Choi pictures a world without police". NewsHour Productions. PBS NewsHour. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  9. ↑ Admin (2017-04-04). "Franny Choi - "Whiteness Walks into a Bar"". Button Poetry. Retrieved 2018-12-11.
  10. ↑ "Franny Choi". Bat City Review. Retrieved 2018-12-11.
  11. ↑ Center, Smithsonian Asian Pacific American. "Queer Check-Ins". Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center. Retrieved 2020-07-30.
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