Illinois Authors

The Illinois Center for the Book banner

Li-Young Lee

Born: 1957 in Jakarta, Indonesia
Pen Name: None

Connection to Illinois: Lee moved to Chicago after graduate school and still resides there today.

Biography: Li-Young Lee is writer and educator. He taught at Northwestern University, University of Iowa, University of Oregon, and University of Texas at Austin. His verse has earned numerous honors, including a Lannan Literary Award, a Paterson Poetry Prize, and an American Book Award.


Awards:
  • ''The Rose''
  • -- Delmore Schwartz Memorial Award, New York University, 1986
  • ''The City in Which I Love You''
  • -- Lamont Poetry Selection, The Academy of American Poets, 1990
  • "The Winged Seed"
  • -- American Book Award, 1995
  • "Book of My Nights"
  • -- William Carlos Williams Award, 2002
  • "Behind My Eyes"
  • -- Starred Review, Publishers Weekly
  • "The Undressing"
  • -- Starred Review, Booklist

Primary Literary Genre(s): Poetry

Primary Audience(s): Adult readers

Website: https://www.whiting.org/awards/winners/li-young-lee#/
Website: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/li-young-lee
Website: https://poets.org/poet/li-young-lee
Website: https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/culture-magazines/lee-li-young
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li-Young_Lee
YouTube: https://www.loc.gov/item/webcast-3551


Selected Titles

Behind my eyes
ISBN: 9780393334814 OCLC: 154706874

Combining sensitivity and eloquence with a broad appeal, Li-Young Lee walks in the footsteps of Stanley Kunitz and Billy Collins as one of the United States's most beloved poets. Playful, erotic, at times mysterious, his work describes the immanent value of everyday experience. Straightforward language and simple narratives become gateways to the most powerful formulations of beauty, wisdom, and divine love.

Book of my nights :
ISBN: 1929918070 OCLC: 47240715

BOA Editions, Rochester, N.Y. : 2001.

Book of My Nights is the first poetry collection in ten years by one of the world's most acclaimed young poets. In Book of My Nights, Li-Young Lee once again gives us lyrical poetry that fuses memory, family, culture and history. In language as simple and powerful as the human muscle, these poems work individually and as a full-sequence meditation on the vulnerability of humanity. Marketing Plans: o National advertising o National media campaign o National and regional author appearances o Advance reader copies o Course adoption mailing Li-Young Lee burst onto the American literary scene with the publication of Rose, winner of the 1986 Delmore Schwartz Memorial Poetry Award from The Poetry Society of America. He followed that astonishing book with The City in Which I Love You, which was The Lamont Poetry Selection of The Academy of American Poets. Mr. Lee has appeared on National Public Radio a number of times and The Power of the Word, the PBS television series with Bill Moyers. Rose and The City in Which I Love You are in the 19th and 17th printings respectively, making them two of the highest-selling contemporary poetry books in the United States. Moreover, Mr. Lee's poems have been translated into more than a dozen languages. He currently lives in Chicago.

Book of My Nights.
ISBN: 9781938160400 OCLC: 881887141

BOA Editions Ltd., New York : 2013.

The long-awaited new poetry collection from one of the world's most acclaimed young poets.

Breaking the alabaster jar :
ISBN: 1929918828 OCLC: 63692682

BOA Editions, Rochester, NY : 2006.

From blossoms :
ISBN: 9781852246983 OCLC: 73957142

Bloodaxe Books, Tarset, Northumberland : 2007.

Rose :
ISBN: 0918526531 OCLC: 15183342

BOA Editions ; Brockport, N.Y. : 1986.

Li-Young Lee was born in 1957 in Jakarta, Indonesia, of Chinese parents. In 1959 his father, after spending a year as a political prisoner in President Sukarno's jails, fled Indonesia with his family. Between 1959 and 1964 the Lee family traveled throughout Hong Kong, Macau and Japan, until arriving in America.Li-Young Lee's first poetry collection, Rose, won the New York University's 1986 Delmore Schwartz Memorial Poetry Award. His second collection, The City In Which I Love You, was the 1990 Lamont Poetry Selection of the Academy of American Poets. His third collection, Book of My Nights, was awarded the 2002 William Carlos Williams Award from the Poetry Society of America. Table of Contents I.EpistleThe GiftPersimmonsThe Weight Of SweetnessFrom BlossomsDreaming Of HairEarly In The MorningWaterFalling: The CodeNocturneMy IndigoIrisesEating Alone II.Always A Rose III.Eating TogetherAsh, Snow, Or MoonlightThe LifeThe WeepersBraidingRain DiaryMy Sleeping Loved OnesMnemonicBetween SeasonsVisions And Interpretations.

The city in which I love you :
ISBN: 0918526833 OCLC: 22407667

BOA Editions, Brockport, N.Y. : 1990.

A collection of poems evokes the author's youth and the immigrant experience in America.

The undressing :
ISBN: 0393357872 OCLC: 1102474558

The winged seed :
ISBN: 9781938160042 OCLC: 892573921

A reissue of acclaimed poet Li-Young Lee's heart-wrenching memoir, with a new foreword by the author and never-before-seen photos.

 

 

Accessibility