Franny Choi (born February 11, 1989) is an American writer, poet and playwright.

Personal life

Choi lived in

Northampton, Massachusetts The city of Northampton is the county seat of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of Northampton (including its outer villages, Florence and Leeds) was 29,571. Northampton is known as an acade ...

and now resides in

Greenfield, Massachusetts Greenfield is a city in and the county seat of Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. Greenfield was first settled in 1686. The population was 17,768 at the 2020 census. Greenfield is home to Greenfield Community College, the Pioneer Val ...

. Her fascination with poetry began when she was in the third or fourth grade. She enjoyed the action of ordering words together in such a way that they provided profound meaning. As her love for poetry grew, she began to identify and to use poetry as a means of coping with real life experiences. In high school, Choi was introduced to poet

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...

and fell in love with poetry's spoken form. In college, she joined a group for marginalized spoken poets, called WORD!, which was her introduction to the world of slam poetry. She has published poetry focusing on social activism and equality, which has won awards and been highlighted in many journals and magazines. She has competed in many

slam poetry A poetry slam is a competitive art event in which poets perform spoken word poetry before a live audience and a panel of judges. While formats can vary, slams are often loud and lively, with audience participation, cheering and dramatic delivery. ...

competitions, where she became increasingly known as a poet.

Education and career

Choi's parents are Choi Inyeong and Nam Songeun. She is Korean-American. She graduated from

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

with a B.A. in

Literary Arts Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include o ...

and

Ethnic Studies Ethnic studies, in the United States, is the interdisciplinary study of difference—chiefly race, ethnicity, and nation, but also sexuality, gender, and other such markings—and power, as expressed by the state, by civil society, and by indivi ...

in 2011 and received an M.F.A. from the Helen Zell Writers' Program at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

in Poetry. After graduating, she became a co-director of the Providence Poetry Slam. She founded the Dark Noise Collective with Fatimah Asghar,

Danez Smith Danez Smith is an African-American, poet, writer and performer from St. Paul, Minnesota. They are queer, non-binary and HIV-positive. They are the author of the poetry collections '' nsertBoy'' and ''Don't Call Us Dead: Poems'', both of which have ...

Jamila Woods Jamila Woods (born October 6, 1989) is a Chicago-based American singer, songwriter and poet. Woods is a graduate of St. Ignatius College Prep and Brown University, where she received a BA in Africana Studies and Theater & Performance Studies. H ...

, Nate Marshall, and

Aaron Samuels According to Abrahamic religions, Aaron ''′aharon'', ar, هارون, Hārūn, Greek (Septuagint): Ἀαρών; often called Aaron the priest ()., group="note" ( or ; ''’Ahărōn'') was a prophet, a high priest, and the elder brother of ...

in 2012. Currently, Choi is working for ''Hyphen Magazine'', a non-profit Asian culture publication, as News Editor. She is also a co-host with

of the podcast ''VS''. She was a Gaius Charles Bolin Fellow in English at

Williams College Williams College is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a col ...

; in 2022 she joined the undergraduate Literature Faculty at

Bennington College Bennington College is a private liberal arts college in Bennington, Vermont. Founded in 1932 as a women's college, it became co-educational in 1969. It claims to be the first college to include visual and performing arts as an equal partner in ...

Awards

Choi is a two-time winner of the Rust-Belt Poetry Slam.

Activism

Choi promotes social activism through her poetry and writing. In her poem "Whiteness Walks Into A Bar," she brings to light the institutionalized racism in the United States. She also advocates for feminism through her poetry, such as in "furiosa." Choi curated a series of video poems by 12 queer Asian American and Pacific Islander poets for the

Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center The Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center (APAC) is a migratory museum that shares Asian Pacific American history, art, and culture through innovative museum experiences online and throughout the U.S through the Smithsonian Institution's work. ...

Bibliography

Books

*''Floating, Brilliant, Gone'' (Button Poetry, 2014) *'' Soft Science'' (Alice James Books, 2019) *''The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On'' (Ecco, 2022)

Chapbooks

*''Death by Sex Machine'' (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2017)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Choi, Franny 1989 births American writers of Korean descent Brown University alumni Living people American LGBT people of Asian descent Writers from Providence, Rhode Island Poets from Rhode Island American poets of Asian descent American LGBT poets LGBT people from Rhode Island 21st-century American women writers 21st-century American poets American women poets University of Michigan alumni