Bao Phi is a

Vietnamese-American Vietnamese Americans ( vi, Người Mỹ gốc Việt, lit=Viet-origin American people) are Americans of Vietnamese ancestry. They make up about half of all overseas Vietnamese and are the fourth-largest Asian American ethnic group after Chinese ...

spoken word Spoken word refers to an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a late 20th century continuation of an ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetics of ...

artist, writer and community activist living in

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

. Bao Phi's collection of poems, ''Sông I Sing'', was published in 2011 and, ''Thousand Star Hotel,'' was published in 2017 by

Coffee House Press Coffee House Press is a nonprofit independent press based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The press’s goal is to "produce books that celebrate imagination, innovation in the craft of writing, and the many authentic voices of the American experience ...

. He has written three children’s books published by Capstone Press. First book, ''A Different Pond'' received multiple awards, including the

Caldecott Award The Randolph Caldecott Medal, frequently shortened to just the Caldecott, annually recognizes the preceding year's "most distinguished American picture book for children". It is awarded to the illustrator by the Association for Library Service ...

Charlotte Zolotow Award The Charlotte Zolotow Award is an American literary award presented annually for outstanding writing in a picture book published in the United States during the preceding year. By contrast, the Caldecott Medal is for outstanding illustration in ...

, the

Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature The Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature (APAAL) are a set of literary awards presented annually by the Asian Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA). The APALA was formed in 1980 "to create an organization that would address the n ...

for best picture book, the

Minnesota Book Award The Minnesota Book Awards are presented annually for books created by writers, illustrators or book artists who are Minnesotans. The award, originally established in 1988, is organized by The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library. History ...

for picture books.

Early life and education

Bao Phi was born in

Saigon , population_density_km2 = 4,292 , population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2 , population_demonym = Saigonese , blank_name = GRP (Nominal) , blank_info = 2019 , blank1_name = – Total , blank1_ ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

as the youngest son to a Vietnamese mother and a Chinese-Vietnamese father. He grew up in the Phillips neighborhood of South

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

near the Little Earth housing projects. Phi attended

Minneapolis South High School Minneapolis South High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in the Corcoran neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota. A member of the Minneapolis Public Schools district, it is both the oldest and largest public high sc ...

and began performing his poetry when competing on the South High speech team in the Creative Expression category in the early 1990s. He attended and graduated from

Macalester College Macalester College () is a private liberal arts college in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Founded in 1874, Macalester is exclusively an undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 2,174 students in the fall of 2018 from 50 U.S. states, four U.S te ...

, where he was encouraged to pursue creative writing by Native American Literature professor,

Diane Glancy (Helen) Diane Glancy (March 18, 1941) is an American poet, author, and playwright. Life and career Glancy was born in Kansas City, Missouri, to a Cherokee descent (non-enrolled) father, Lewis H. Hall, and an English-German-American mother. At a ...

Poetry, activism and literature

Phi won the Minnesota Grand Poetry Slam twice. He is the first Vietnamese-American man to have appeared on HBO's '' Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry'', and the

National Poetry Slam The National Poetry Slam (NPS) is a performance poetry competition where teams from across the United States, Canada, and, occasionally, Europe and Australia, participate in a large-scale poetry slam. The event occurs in early August every year and ...

Individual Finalists Stage, where he placed 6th overall out of over 250 national slam poets. Phi has been a featured performer at numerous venues and schools locally and nationally, from the Nuyorican Poet's Café to the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. In 2005, Phi released his CD, ''Refugeography.''

Billy Collins William James Collins (born March 22, 1941) is an American poet, appointed as Poet Laureate of the United States from 2001 to 2003. He is a Distinguished Professor at Lehman College of the City University of New York (retired, 2016). Collins ...

selected one of Phi’s poems, "Race," for inclusion in ''

The Best American Poetry 2006 ''The Best American Poetry 2006'', a volume in ''The Best American Poetry series'', was edited by David Lehman (general editor), and poet Billy Collins, guest editor. The volume received some negative reviews. A review in the '' RATTLE'' by G. Tod ...

'' anthology. Phi is also published in various literary magazines, journals, and anthologies, including From Both Sides Now, the Def Poetry Jam anthology, Legacy to Liberation, Screaming Monkeys, and the ''

Michigan Quarterly Review The ''Michigan Quarterly Review'' is an American literary magazine founded in 1962 and published at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. The quarterly (known as "MQR" for short) publishes art, essays, interviews, memoirs, fiction, poetry, and ...

''. His poetry is included in the EMC/Paradigm line of English textbooks for high school students, and has done voice work for their educational materials. One of his poems was selected to appear in Minneapolis/Saint Paul city buses in the Poetry in Motion program. He is also the author of the

chapbook A chapbook is a small publication of up to about 40 pages, sometimes bound with a saddle stitch. In early modern Europe a chapbook was a type of printed street literature. Produced cheaply, chapbooks were commonly small, paper-covered bookle ...

Surviving the Translation
'. Phi has been a featured artist in many community events, rallies and functions. He was involved with the Justice for Fong Lee committee and all three protests against ''

Miss Saigon ''Miss Saigon'' is a stage musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, with lyrics by Boublil and Richard Maltby Jr. It is based on Giacomo Puccini's 1904 opera ''Madame Butterfly'', and similarly tells the tragic tale of a doomed rom ...

'' produced by the

Ordway Theater The Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, in downtown Saint Paul, Minnesota, hosts a variety of performing arts, such as touring Broadway musicals, orchestra, opera, and cultural performers, and produces local musicals. It is home to several lo ...

. Bao Phi's collection of poems, ''Sông I Sing'', was published In 2011 by Coffeehouse Press. It focused on modern Vietnamese-Asian American life with each poem capable of being read for spoken word. The book received a favorable review in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. In 2017, Phi and illustrator, Thi Bui, released a children's book with

Capstone Publishers Capstone is a publisher of children’s books and digital products. Capstone focuses on the educational market. They also sell to the trade market and internationally. Capstone publishes nonfiction, fiction, picture books, interactive books, audi ...

titled ''

A Different Pond ''A Different Pond'' is a 2017 children's picture book by Bao Phi, illustrated by Thi Bui. The book tells the story of a boy and his father going fishing. Phi created the book because of his desire to have books about people like himself to read ...

'', which earned the prestigious

Caldecott Honor The Randolph Caldecott Medal, frequently shortened to just the Caldecott, annually recognizes the preceding year's "most distinguished American picture book for children". It is awarded to the illustrator by the Association for Library Service ...

. Phi has taught workshops and performed for youth for organizations from the W.O.C. in Minneapolis to the

Chinatown Community Development Center The Chinatown centered on Grant Avenue and Stockton Street in San Francisco, California, () is the oldest Chinatown in North America and one of the largest Chinese enclaves outside Asia. It is also the oldest and largest of the four notabl ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. He was an advisory panel member, workshop moderator, and performer for Intimacy and Geography, the Asian American Writers' Workshop national poetry festival in New York, and a faculty at

Kundiman Kundiman is a genre of traditional Filipino love songs. The lyrics of the kundiman are written in Tagalog. The melody is characterized by a smooth, flowing and gentle rhythm with dramatic intervals. Kundiman was the traditional means of sere ...

at Fordham University in 2015. That year, he was also a performer in the diasporic Vietnamese blockbuster variety show, '' Paris By Night''.

The Loft Literary Center

Phi worked at

The Loft Literary Center The Loft Literary Center is a non-profit literary organization located in Minneapolis, Minnesota incorporated in 1975. The Loft is a large and comprehensive independent literary center, and offers a variety of writing classes, conferences, grants ...

, a nonprofit literary organization in Minneapolis, for more than 20 years, most recently as Program Director. He managed and operated several Loft programs, including Equilibrium, a successful spoken word series he created, which invites nationally recognized artists of color/indigenous artists to share the stage with local Minnesota artists of color/indigenous artists. Equilibrium was awarded the Anti-Racism Initiative award from the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits in 2010. Phi left the Loft in 2022 and joined the

McKnight Foundation The McKnight Foundation, a Minnesota-based family foundation, advances a more just, creative, and abundant future where people and planet thrive. Established in 1953, the McKnight Foundation is deeply committed to advancing climate solutions in ...

as Arts & Culture program officer.

Awards and honors

Phi has received numerous awards and honors, including multiple Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative grants. He was also a featured listener in the award-winning documentary film ''The Listening Project''.

Published works

Poetry

*''Thousand Star Hotel,'' (Coffee House Press, 2017) *''Sông I Sing,'' (Coffee House Press, 2011)

Children's literature

*''A Different Pond,'' (Capstone Press, 2017; illustrated by Thi Bui) **Honor, 2018

**Winner, 2018

**Winner, 2017-2017

for best picture book **Winner, 2018

*''My Footprints,'' (Capstone Press, 2019; illustrated by Basia Tran) *''Hello, Mandarin Duck!,'' (Capstone Press, 2019; illustrated by Dion MBD)

Personal life

Bao has a daughter.

References

External links

Official websiteThe LoftGoodreads - Sông I SingGoodreads - Thousand Star Hotel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bao, Phi Artists from Minneapolis Living people Poets from Minnesota Year of birth missing (living people) Writers of Vietnamese descent Vietnamese emigrants to the United States American women children's writers American children's writers Vietnamese women children's writers South High School (Minnesota) alumni 21st-century American women