Linh Dinh
Encyclopedia
Linh Dinh is a Vietnamese-American poet, fiction writer, translator, and photographer. He was a 1993 Pew Fellow
.
, in Norwich, England. He spent 2002—2003 in Italy as a guest of the International Parliament of Writers and the town of Certaldo
.
He was visiting faculty at University of Pennsylvania
.
His work has been anthologized in Best American Poetry 2000, Best American Poetry 2004, The Best American Poetry 2007
, and Great American Prose Poems from Poe to the Present, among other places. The Village Voice picked his Blood and Soap as one of the best books of 2004. Translated into Italian by Giovanni Giri, it is published in Italy as Elvis Phong è Morto.
reviews Linh Dinh's American Tatts:
He has translated many international poets into Vietnamese, and many Vietnamese poets and fiction writers into English, including Nguyen Quoc Chanh
, Tran Vang Sao
, Van Cam Hai and Nguyen Huy Thiep.
Pew Fellowships in the Arts
The Pew Fellowships in the Arts is an organization established by the Pew Charitable Trusts in 1991 which awards grants to Philadelphia-area artists. The grants provide artists with an economic freedom that presents the opportunity to focus on their individual practices over a considerable period...
.
Biography
He came to the US in 1975, and is living in Philadelphia. In 2005, he was a David Wong fellow at the University of East AngliaUniversity of East Anglia
The University of East Anglia is a public research university based in Norwich, United Kingdom. It was established in 1963, and is a founder-member of the 1994 Group of research-intensive universities.-History:...
, in Norwich, England. He spent 2002—2003 in Italy as a guest of the International Parliament of Writers and the town of Certaldo
Certaldo
Certaldo is a town and comune of Tuscany, Italy, in the province of Florence, located in the middle of Valdelsa. It is about 35 kilometers southwest of the Florence Duomo....
.
He was visiting faculty at University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
.
Career
He is the author of two collections of stories, Fake House (Seven Stories Press, 2000) and Blood and Soap (Seven Stories Press, 2004), and five books of poems, All Around What Empties Out (Tinfish, 2003), American Tatts (Chax, 2005), Borderless Bodies (Factory School, 2006), Jam Alerts (Chax, 2007), and Some Kind of Cheese Orgy (Chax, 2009). His first novel Love Like Hate (Seven Stories Press) was published in October 2010.His work has been anthologized in Best American Poetry 2000, Best American Poetry 2004, The Best American Poetry 2007
The Best American Poetry 2007
The Best American Poetry 2007, a volume in The Best American Poetry series, was edited by poet Heather McHugh, guest editor, who made the final selections, and David Lehman, the general editor for the series....
, and Great American Prose Poems from Poe to the Present, among other places. The Village Voice picked his Blood and Soap as one of the best books of 2004. Translated into Italian by Giovanni Giri, it is published in Italy as Elvis Phong è Morto.
Reviews
Publishers WeeklyPublishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...
reviews Linh Dinh's American Tatts:
The second effort in verse from this rising star of the small-press world turns his considerable powers to the depiction of acrid ironies, unmitigated disgust and politically charged gall. One of its opening poems imagines the poet as a half-knight, half-corpse "Cadavalier," exclaiming, "This pinkish universe is really nothing/ But a flocculation of my desires." A fast-moving poem called "Pick-Up Lines"—one of many about sexual discomfort—instructs a lover to "listen to my effluvium." Dinh (All Around What Empties Out) often imitates (or perhaps quotes) subliterary material: online personal ads, instant messaging, brochures and corporatespeak ("We've entered a new level of parking consciousness"), confessions of X-rated adventures by semiliterate writers. His swift lines also portray the kind of grotesque caricature ("The day before her abortion,/ The one-eyed lady accidentally swallowed her glass eye") used manipulatively in politics. Exploring disgust while toying with frames and assumptions, the poet becomes in one sense a real heir to Charles BukowskiCharles BukowskiHenry Charles Bukowski was an American poet, novelist and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural and economic ambience of his home city of Los Angeles...
; in another, he joins other younger poets (such as Drew Gardner and K. Silem Mohammad) in a movement toward hard-edged, provocative parody. It might be hard to call Dinh's volume pleasing, but readers of a certain temperament may well find it irresistible.
He has translated many international poets into Vietnamese, and many Vietnamese poets and fiction writers into English, including Nguyen Quoc Chanh
Nguyen Quoc Chanh
Nguyễn Quốc Chánh is a Vietnamese poet.He was born in Bạc Liêu, and now lives in Ho Chi Minh City. He is the author of four collections of poems, Night of the Rising Sun , Inanimate Weather , the e-book Coded Personal Info and the samizdat Hey, I'm Here...
, Tran Vang Sao
Tran Vang Sao
Tran Vang Sao is a Vietnamese poet.He was born in Huế, where he now lives. His father was killed by the French during the First Indochina War. During the Vietnam War, he was a contributor to the underground newspaper Thanh Niên Chống Mỹ [Youths against America]...
, Van Cam Hai and Nguyen Huy Thiep.
Poetry
- Some Kind of Cheese Orgy, Chax Press, 2009, ISBN 9780925904782
- Jam Alerts, Chax Press, 2007, ISBN 9780925904683
- Lĩnh Đinh Chích Khoái, (Nhà xuất bản Giấy Vụn, Sài Gòn, 11.2007)
- Borderless Bodies, poetry (Factory School, 2006)
- American Tatts, poetry Chax Press, 2005, ISBN 9780925904553
- All Around What Empties Out, Subpress, 2003, ISBN 9781930068193
- Drunkard Boxing, Singing Horse Press, 1998, ISBN 9780935162189
Fiction
. Translated into Japanese (Hayakawa Publishing, 2008) and Italian (Spartaco, 2006), as Elvis Phong è Morto!.- Love Like Hate, Seven Stories Press, 2010, ISBN 9781583229095
Translations
- Night, Fish and Charlie Parker, a bilingual edition of Phan Nhiên Hạo’sPhan Nhien HaoPhan Nhiên Hạo is a Vietnamese poet and translator, living in the United States.He was born in Kontum, Vietnam, came to the US in 1991 and now lives in Illinois. He has a BA in Vietnamese Literature from The Teachers College of Saigon, a BA in American Literature from UCLA, and a Master in Library...
poetry (Tupelo, 2006)
Editor
- Contemporary Fiction from Vietnam (Seven Stories Press 1996)
- Three Vietnamese Poets, translations (Tinfish, 2001)
- Night, AgainNight, AgainNight, Again is an anthology of contemporary Vietnamese fiction, edited by Linh Dinh.Published in 1996 by Seven Stories Press, then reissued in 2006 with two new stories, Night, Again features key authors emerging from the liberalization of Đổi Mới in the 1980s, as well as major writers living...
: Contemporary Fiction from Vietnam, anthology, Seven Stories, 1996, ISBN 9781888363029
External links
- AsianAmericanPoetry.Com Poet Profile On Linh Dinh
- "Linh Dinh", PennSound
- "Most Beautiful Words: Linh Dinh’s Poetics of Disgust", Jacket 27, Susan M. Schultz
- "The Personal Becomes Political: The Powerfull Intensity of Linh Dinh", Marianne Villanueva, Pacific Rim Review of Books
- "Linh Dinh with Matthew Sharpe", The Brooklyn Rail, May 2004
- Casino Time essay by Dinh on the economic and social distinctions that are circumvented (or not) by the terms "recession" and "depression"
- State of the Union In his own photo blog, Dinh has been "tracking our deteriorating socialscape".
- "Linh Dinh", Vietnam Lit