May Lee Yang
Encyclopedia
May Lee, also known as May Lee Yang, is a Hmong
playwright, poet, prose writer, performance artist and community activist living in Minnesota
, United States
.
, the Center for Hmong Art and Talent (CHAT), Out North Theater, Kaotic Good Productions, Intermedia Arts, and the MN Fringe Festival as well as toured to various locations around the Midwest.
Hmong literary journal, The Saint Paul Almanac (Arcata Press), Cheers to Muses: Contemporary Works by Asian American Women (Asian American Women Association), To Sing Along the Way: Minnesota Women Poets From Pre-Territorial Days to the Present (New Rivers Press), Fiction on a Stick (Milkweed Editions) Unarmed, the Bamboo Among the Oaks
anthology (Borealis Press), Water~Stone Literary Review (Hamline University), Sounds In This House: An Anthology from the National Book Foundation Writing Camp (National Book Foundation", and Hmong Movement.
May Lee-Yang has also been an actress and performed for Pom Siab Hmoob Theatre (currently a part of the Center for Hmong Arts and Talent) in the play, Hmong Tapestry: Voices from the Cloth. Venues for the play included schools, college campuses, conferences, and community sites throughout Minnesota
, Wisconsin
, and Kansas
from 1997 through 2001.
Hmong people
The Hmong , are an Asian ethnic group from the mountainous regions of China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. Hmong are also one of the sub-groups of the Miao ethnicity in southern China...
playwright, poet, prose writer, performance artist and community activist living in Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Theater
Her theater-based works include Confessions of a Lazy Hmong Woman, Sia(b), Ten Reasons Why I'd Be a Bad Porn Star, Stir-Fried Pop Culture, and The Child's House. Her work has been produced through Mu Performing ArtsMu Performing Arts
Mu Performing Arts is a Minneapolis based theater group formed in 1992 by Rick Shiomi, Dong-il Lee, Diane Espaldon, and Martha Johnson. It is composed of Theater Mu, which features stage performances and Mu Daiko, a taiko drumming ensemble...
, the Center for Hmong Art and Talent (CHAT), Out North Theater, Kaotic Good Productions, Intermedia Arts, and the MN Fringe Festival as well as toured to various locations around the Midwest.
Writing
Her writing has appeared in the Paj Ntaub VoicePaj Ntaub Voice
The Paj Ntaub Voice is the longest-running literary arts journal focused on Hmong art and culture, containing original literary and visual artwork as well as criticism....
Hmong literary journal, The Saint Paul Almanac (Arcata Press), Cheers to Muses: Contemporary Works by Asian American Women (Asian American Women Association), To Sing Along the Way: Minnesota Women Poets From Pre-Territorial Days to the Present (New Rivers Press), Fiction on a Stick (Milkweed Editions) Unarmed, the Bamboo Among the Oaks
Bamboo Among the Oaks
Bamboo Among the Oaks is the first Hmong American anthology of creative writing, published in 2002 by the Minnesota Historical Society Press. Many of the pieces contained in Bamboo Among The Oaks first appeared in the Paj Ntaub Voice Hmoob literary journal.Edited by Mai Neng Moua, Bamboo Among the...
anthology (Borealis Press), Water~Stone Literary Review (Hamline University), Sounds In This House: An Anthology from the National Book Foundation Writing Camp (National Book Foundation", and Hmong Movement.
Performance Work
She was a member of the Hmong and Lao spoken word group, F.I.R.E.(Free Inspiring Rising Elements) and performed regularly at several Minnesota venues including the Fringe Festival, Intermedia Arts, Hmong Fest, Patrick’s Cabaret, the Loft Literary Center, and local universities and colleges.May Lee-Yang has also been an actress and performed for Pom Siab Hmoob Theatre (currently a part of the Center for Hmong Arts and Talent) in the play, Hmong Tapestry: Voices from the Cloth. Venues for the play included schools, college campuses, conferences, and community sites throughout Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
, Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
, and Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
from 1997 through 2001.
Selected Awards
- Midwestern Voices and Vision Artist Residency administered through the Alliance of Artists Communities (2010)
- Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant for Theater (2009) and Literature (2005)
- National Performance Network Creation Fund Grant for Theater (2008)
- Intermedia Arts/Jerome Foundation's Naked Stages Fellowship (2008)
- Playwright Center Many Voices Fellowship (2008, 2002)
- The Loft Literary Center’s Mentorship Program in Creative Non-Fiction (2005)
- University of Minnesota's Anna Augusta Von Helmholtz-Phelan Award for Creative Writing (2001)
External links
- May Lee-Yang's Official Website
- Asian American Press Interview with May Lee-Yang (March 2011)
- May Lee Yang Interview
- May Lee Yang and VISION article in Hmong Today
- May Lee Yang article in Hmong Times
- 3 Minute Egg Coverage of May Lee-Yang's work
- TC Daily Planet Interviews May Lee-Yang about the Midwestern Voices and Visions Residency Award
- Pioneer Press review of "Sia(b)"