Poet To Give Reading At W&L

Poet To Give Reading At W&L

Washington and Lee University will present a public reading by award-winning poet and writer Sally Wen Mao on Thursday, Nov. 7, at 5:30 p.m. in Stackhouse Theater in Elrod Commons.

The reading is free and open to the public and is sponsored by the Museums at W&L and the Glasgow Endowment.

Mao is a celebrated voice in contemporary poetry, and her recent collection “The Kingdom of Surfaces” was a finalist for the 2023 Maya Angelou Book Prize. She is also the author of two previous poetry collections, “Oculus” (2019) and “Mad Honey Symposium” (2014), and her work has appeared in The Paris Review, Harper’s Bazaar, The Washington Post and elsewhere. Her debut fiction collection, “Ninetails,” was published in 2024.

At the reading, Mao will discuss the speculative possibilities of poetry and how her writing method responds to art objects, an approach found in “The Kingdom of Surfaces,” which examines art and history to frame conversations about beauty, empire, commodification and violence. She will also share insight into her transition from poetry to prose with “Ninetails,” a story collection that reimagines the fox spirit from Asian folklore as an icon of vengeance, solidarity and liberation.

Mao is the recipient of two Pushcart Prizes and a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship. She has taught writing at New York University, Cornell University and Sarah Lawrence College, and is an assistant professor of English and creative writing at Baruch College.