Ed Bok Lee, a finalist for a Minnesota Book Award this year, will read from his selection of poems at 7 p.m. Monday, March 5 in the Melva Lind Interpretive Center at Gustavus Adolphus College.
Bok Lee was raised in South Korea, North Dakota, and Minnesota. He is a former physical education teacher, bartender, journalist, and translator. He holds a Master’s of Fine Arts degree from Brown University, and has shared his work in journals, anthologies, at colleges, and on stages across North American, Europe, and Asia, as well as on public television and radio.
His first book, Real Karaoke People, was a national bestseller in poetry and the winner of a Many Voices Prize, an Asian American Literary Award and a PEN/Open Book Award.
Bok Lee’s second book, Whorled, was released in September 2011 and is one of four finalists for this year’s Minnesota Book Award in the Poetry category. In Whorled, Bok Lee looks toward a global future, one where the dividing lines between state, religion, race, history, and culture have been blurred to the extent that they very idea of difference requires a new understanding. What does it mean to be a Global Citizen in an era of constant war, rampant industrialization, and ever-advancing technology? Whorled strives to give a voice to those left out with words of loss and longing, confrontation and celebration.
Bok Lee’s appearance at Gustavus is sponsored by the English Department and the Writing Center and is free and open to the public. For more information about this event, contact Assistant Professor of English Eric Vrooman at evrooman@gustavus.edu.
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