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When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities

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( 4,376 ratings, 735 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities is a ferocious and tender poetry debut by Chen Chen that explores the complexities of love, family, and identity from Asian American, immigrant, and queer perspectives. The collection delves into strained mother-son relationships, the cost of farewells, and the journey of charting one's own path, fully embracing loss, grief, and joy.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This collection will resonate strongly with readers interested in contemporary poetry, Asian American and queer experiences, and explorations of identity, family, and belonging.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

This award-winning debut interrogates the fragile, inherited ways of approaching love and family from Asian American, immigrant, and queer perspectives.

Galleys available: national mailing to key review/media outlets 4-5 months prior to publication. National advertising: Poets & Writers, American Poets, the Academy of American Poets newsletter, Rain Taxi, and Redactions. National print campaign: 100+ finished books will be mailed to key review outlets, specifically targeting Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, The New York Times Book Review, The New Yorker, The LA Times, Poets & Writers Magazine, The Rumpus, Huffington Post Poetry, Bookforum, LA Review of Books, PBS Newshour, NPR, etc. Outreach to blogs and online outlets for category features, including Buzzfeed, Bustle, etc. for such themes as LGBT (Pride Month), Asian American poets, etc. Buy-ins to relevant academic conferences, trade shows, and publications: American Library Association Annual Meeting, CBSD Sales and Academic catalogs, etc. Spring announcements will be submitted to Publishers Weekly. Online/social media campaign: Extensive promotion through BOA's website and blog; Facebook (6,500+ contacts), Twitter (6,100 followers), Instagram (1,500+ followers), and Pinterest (550+ followers) accounts; print and e-postcards; print and e-materials; and print and e-catalogs. Electronic postcards to announce book publication will be sent to Chen's academic contacts, bookstore contacts, and literary bloggers. Electronic newsletter feature will be emailed to BOA's database of 6,500+ contacts. Ebook will be available at the same time as print publication to maximize sales. Ebook ISBN will be included on all press materials, author and publisher websites, and whenever print ISBN is listed. Publisher and author will be promoting both e and p through social media. Author will attend the AWP Conference 2017 in Washington, DC, where he will have an author signing. Chen also regularly attends the Dodge Poetry Festival, the Massachusetts Poetry Festival, and the Round Top Poetry Festival in Texas. Plans for a multi-city book tour, including such places as Charleston, SC, and in Texas and the Northeast. Chen has strong personal and professional contacts in such places as Amherst, MA, Newton, MA, Syracuse, NY, and Lubbock, TX, where he will likely set up readings and author events. He is particularly well known at LHUCA, an art gallery in Lubbock, TX, which has a reading series; Texas Tech University in Lubbock, TX; Barnes & Noble in Lubbock, TX; Newtonville Books in Newton, MA; Trident Bookstore in Boston, MA; and Amherst Books in Amherst, MA. Possible joint readings and events with Jericho Brown (Copper Canyon Press), Bruce Smith (University of Chicago Press), William Wenthe (LSU Press), Aracelis Girmay (BOA Editions), Sarah Gambito (Persea Books), Craig Morgan Teicher (BOA Editions), Joseph O. Legaspi (Cavankerry Press), David Tomas Martinez (Sarabande), Solmaz Sharif (Copper Canyon Press), Hieu Minh Nguyen (Coffee House Press), and Kaveh Akbar (Alice James Books). Blurbs and endorsements from Jericho Brown and other acclaimed poets. Promotion through the author's social media platforms and website: www.chenchenwrites.com.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

In this ferocious and tender debut, Chen Chen investigates inherited forms of love and family—the strained relationship between a mother and son, the cost of necessary goodbyes—all from Asian American, immigrant, and queer perspectives. Holding all accountable, this collection fully embraces the loss, grief, and abundant joy that come with charting one's own path in identity, life, and love.

When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities

To be a season of laughter
when my father says
his coworker is like that, he can tell
because the guy wears pink
socks, see, you don't, so you
can't, you can't be
one of them.

To be the one
my parents raised me
to be. A season
from the stormiest planet.
A very good feeling
with a man.
Every feeling,

in pink shoes.
Every step, hot pink.

Chen Chen: was born in Xiamen, China, and grew up in Massachusetts. His work has appeared in two chapbooks and in such publications as Poetry, Gulf Coast, Indiana Review, Best of the Net, and The Best American Poetry. The recipient of the 2016 A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize, he has been awarded fellowships from Kundiman, the Saltonstall Foundation, Lambda Literary, and in 2015, he was a finalist for the Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowships. He earned his BA at Hampshire College and his MFA at Syracuse University. He lives in Lubbock, Texas, where he is pursuing a PhD at Texas Tech University.

Series: A. Poulin, Jr. New Poets of America

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Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Winner of the A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize and featured on NPR Books's list of 'Poetry to Pay Attention To: 2017's Best Verse,' Chen Chen's collection is hailed as a wild, deeply serious, and moving exploration of Chinese-American experience, young love, and familial bonds. NPR Books praises its free-associative style that blends playful language with profound themes, making it a standout debut.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781942683339

Publisher: BOA Editions, Limited

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 27 April 2017

Country: United States

Imprint: BOA Editions, Limited

Edition: Unabridged edition

Illustration: Illustrations

Contributors:

  • Foreword by Jericho Brown

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 152.0mm

Height: 228.0mm

Weight: 184g

Pages: 96

About the Author

Chen Chen was born in Xiamen, China, and grew up in Massachusetts. His work has appeared in two chapbooks and in such publications as Poetry, Gulf Coast, Indiana Review, Best of the Net, and The Best American Poetry. The recipient of the 2016 A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize, he has been awarded fellowships from Kundiman, the Saltonstall Foundation, Lambda Literary, and in 2015, he was a finalist for the Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowships. He earned his BA at Hampshire College and his MFA at Syracuse University. Currently, he is pursuing a PhD in English and Creative Writing at Texas Tech University. Chen lives in Lubbock, Texas, with his partner, Jeff Gilbert, and their pug dog, Rupert Giles.

Jericho Brown is the recipient of the Whiting Writers Award and fellowships from the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University and the National Endowment for the Arts. His first book, Please (New Issues, 2008), won the American Book Award, and his second book, The New Testament (Copper Canyon, 2014), was named one of the best poetry books of the year by Library Journal. His poems have appeared in The Nation, The New Republic, The New Yorker, and The Best American Poetry. Brown earned a PhD from the University of Houston, an MFA from the University of New Orleans, and a BA from Dillard University. He is an assistant professor in the creative writing program at Emory University in Atlanta.

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