Don Mee Choi Reading and Conversation with Youna Kwak

Don Mee Choi Reading and Conversation
January 19, 2023
8:30 PM PST

REDCAT
631 W 2nd St
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Join us for a captivating literary evening with poet Don Mee Choi for our first program of the year! Don Mee Choi is a markedly influential figure in contemporary experimental poetry, combining the visual, the documentary, and the lyrical in her highly acclaimed books. Choi’s Kor-Us Trilogy ( Hardly War, 2016, DMZ Colony, 2020, and the forthcoming Mirror Nation, 2024) intertwines her family history with the troubled and complex modern history of South Korea and its long entanglement with the power and ambitions of the United States. 2024’s Katie Jacobson Writer in Residence, Choi has already received some of the highest honors a literary artist can achieve—the National Book Award for 2020’s DMZ Colony and a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship in recognition of her work in poetry and in the field of translation, where she’s introduced many English readers to some of the most innovative poets working in South Korea today. This evening of immersion in Choi’s work at REDCAT reflects how she expands our understanding of what poetry can do, while challenging us to experience the many layers of personal and cultural experience we call history.

The program will start with a reading by Choi, where she will unveil passages from her highly anticipated book, Mirror Nation. After the reading, poet Youna Kwak will engage in a conversation with Choi, followed by an audience Q&A.