Michael Derrick Hudson (born 1963) is an American poet and librarian. Hudson is employed at the Genealogy Center of the

Allen County Public Library The Allen County Public Library (ACPL) is a public library system located in Fort Wayne, Allen County, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1895 as the Fort Wayne Public Library, the library served residents with 3,606 books out of a single room ...

in Fort Wayne where his job includes encoding articles for the Periodical Source Index (PERSI)."Michael Derrick Hudson"
''Painted Bride Quarterly'' (Drexel University). Retrieved September 12, 2015. As a poet, Hudson has been published in several journals and literary reviews. His poems were nominated for the

Pushcart Prize The Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize published by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in the small presses over the previous year. Magazine and small book press editors are ...

by the '' Greensboro Review'' and ''

North American Review The ''North American Review'' (NAR) was the first literary magazine in the United States. It was founded in Boston in 1815 by journalist Nathan Hale and others. It was published continuously until 1940, after which it was inactive until revived a ...

''. Hudson gained attention by publishing a poem in the literary periodical ''

Prairie Schooner ''Prairie Schooner'' is a literary magazine published quarterly at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln with the cooperation of UNL's English Department and the University of Nebraska Press. It is based in Lincoln, Nebraska and was first publish ...

'' which then was selected by poet and novelist

Sherman Alexie Sherman Joseph Alexie Jr. (born October 7, 1966) is a Spokane- Coeur d'Alene-Native American novelist, short story writer, poet, screenwriter, and filmmaker. His writings draw on his experiences as an Indigenous American with ancestry from se ...

for the 2015 edition of the ''

Best American Poetry ''The Best American Poetry'' series consists of annual poetry anthologies, each containing seventy-five poems. Background The series, begun by poet and editor David Lehman in 1988, has a different guest editor every year. Lehman, still the general ...

'' anthology series. Hudson, who is

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

, claimed to have submitted the poem and been rejected 40 times under his own name. He then used the

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

of Yi-Fen Chou, putatively a Chinese woman, and it was accepted for publication. Critics and people within the poetry community were critical of Hudson's use of the pseudonym. Some called it

racist Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...

, an act of "

yellowface Portrayals of East Asians in American film and theatre has been a subject of controversy. These portrayals have frequently reflected an ethnocentric perception of East Asians rather than realistic and authentic depictions of East Asian cultures, c ...

", or describing it as "literary fraud". Others were critical of the publishing establishment for inserting affirmative action and

identity politics Identity politics is a political approach wherein people of a particular race, nationality, religion, gender, sexual orientation, social background, social class, or other identifying factors develop political agendas that are based upon these i ...

into the editorial selection process, and said Hudson's success after adopting an Asian-sounding pen name showed that literary journals apply different standards of literary quality based on race and gender.

Early life and education

Michael Derrick Hudson was born in 1963 in Wabash,

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

in the United States.Michael Derrick Hudson (Yi-Fen Chou), "Contributor's Note", ''The Best American Poetry 2015'' ed. David Lehman, Sherman Alexie (New York: Scribner, 2015), 167. "July/August 2014 Poetry Feature: Indiana Poetry Awards Contest Winners"
''Wabash Watershed'', July 29, 2014. Retrieved September 12, 2015. He graduated from Wayne High School in 1982.Jennifer Schuessler
"Family Protests White Poet's Use of Chinese Pen Name"
''The New York Times'', September 10, 2015. Retrieved September 12, 2015. After high school, Hudson attended

Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, or simply Indiana) is a public university, public research university in Bloomington, Indiana. It is the flagship university, flagship campus of Indiana University and, with ...

. He currently lives in

Fort Wayne, Indiana Fort Wayne is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 Censu ...

, where he is employed as a librarian at the Genealogy Center of the

in Fort Wayne.

Poetry

Hudson's poems have been published in several

literary journals A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry, and essays, along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letter ...

and magazines, including ''

The Georgia Review ''The Georgia Review'' is a literary journal based in Athens, Georgia. Founded at University of Georgia in 1947, the journal features poetry, fiction, essays, book reviews, and visual art. The journal has won National Magazine Awards for Fiction ...

'', '' The Iowa Review'', ''

New Letters ''New Letters'', the name it has been published under since 1970, is one of the oldest literary magazines in the United States and continues to publish award-winning poems and fiction. The magazine is based in Kansas City, Missouri. History and ...

'', '' Washington Square'', ''

Fugue In music, a fugue () is a contrapuntal compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject (a musical theme) that is introduced at the beginning in imitation (repetition at different pitches) and which recurs frequently in the c ...

'', and '' Baltimore Review'', amongst others. Several of which have garnered him minor poetry and manuscript prizes. Hudson's poems have been nominated for the

("Man vs. Nature" and "Ahnentafel") by the '' Greensboro Review'' and ''

''. In 2011, Hudson was recognized as an Honorable Mention for the ''North American Review''s James Hearst Poetry Prize. In March 2015, two of his poems, "End of Days Advice from an Ex-zombie" and "Russians", were published in ''

Poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

''. Hudson's manuscript, titled ''The Dead Bird in the Liquor Store Parking Lot'', was selected as a finalist for both the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

s Brittingham and Felix Pollak Poetry Prize and the

Utah State University Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah's ...

s May Swenson Poetry Award. Five of his poems were named as co-winner of the 2014 Manchester Poetry Prize.

Yi-Fen Chou and ''Best American Poetry''

Hudson wrote a poem titled "The Bees, the Flowers, Jesus, Ancient Tigers, Poseidon, Adam and Eve" and claimed to have submitted it to 40

literary magazine A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry, and essays, along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letter ...

s under his own name. Hudson also claimed that after nine rejections, it was accepted for publication in Fall 2014 with four other poems by "Yi-Fen Chou" by ''

'', a literary journal affiliated with the

University of Nebraska A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

.Jennifer Schuessler
"A White Poet Borrows a Chinese Name and Sets Off Fireworks"
''The New York Times'', September 8, 2015. Retrieved September 12, 2015. In 2015, ''The New York Times'' reported that Hudson used the name of a Taiwanese immigrant who attended the same high school as him and had been working as a nuclear engineer in Chicago at the time of publication. Hudson's poem, under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

, was considered for inclusion in the 2015 edition of the ''

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...

series to be guest-edited by Native American poet and novelist

. Alexie selected the poem among the 75 poems published in the anthology. After learning of its selection, Hudson wrote to Alexie to reveal and explain his use of a pseudonym. Hudson's "contributors note" in ''Best American Poetry'' explains his tactics and motivation:

After a poem of mine has been rejected a multitude of times under my real name, I put Yi-Fen's name on it and send it out again. As a strategy for "placing" poems this has been quite successful for me. The poem in question ... was rejected under my real name forty (40) times before I sent it out as Yi-Fen Chou (I keep detailed submission records). As Yi-Fen the poem was rejected nine (9) times before Prairie Schooner took it. If indeed this is one of the best American poems of 2015, it took quite a bit of effort to get it into print, but I'm nothing if not persistent.

In a blog post Alexie discussed his criteria in selecting poems, stating that he would "carefully look for great poems by women and people of color" who had been "underrepresented in the past". After learning of Hudson's pseudonym, Alexie admitted that he "paid more initial attention to his poem because of my perception and misperception of the poet's identity". Instead of removing the poem from the anthology, which he stated would primarily be "because of my own sense of embarrassment", Alexie said he kept it rather than to expose himself to a lie that "would have cast doubt on every poem I have chosen for BAP. It would have implied that I chose poems based only on identity". He emphasized that "In the end, I chose each poem in the anthology because I love it. And to deny my love for any of them is to deny my love for all of them." The publishing of Alexie's comment and Hudson's contributor note ignited a heated debate online, in the media, and amongst the literary world. In a roundtable discussion sponsored by the

PEN American Center PEN America (formerly PEN American Center), founded in 1922 and headquartered in New York City, is a nonprofit organization that works to defend and celebrate Freedom of speech, free expression in the United States and worldwide through the ad ...

, Korean-American poet, author and editor

Alexander Chee Alexander Chee (born August 21, 1967) is an American fiction writer, poet, journalist and reviewer. Born in Rhode Island, he spent his childhood in South Korea, Kauai, Chuuk Lagoon, Truk, Guam and Maine. He attended Wesleyan University and the I ...

stated that Hudson has not been asked to offer proof (nor is proof available) to support his claim that the poem had been rejected 40 times under his own name.Antonio Aiello (editor), and others
"Equity in Publishing: What Should Editors Be Doing?"
(roundtable discussion), PEN American Center, 2015. Retrieved October 30, 2015. Chee said "the only reason I can think no one has made him prove it is that he is a white man, and when white men in America say they are discriminated against, people just say 'oh, ok', and do not ask them to prove it. Meanwhile, this case will be thrust at us as the sign that we are lying whenever we claim we're discriminated against". According to Megan Garber, writing in ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

'', Hudson intended to make a point about "identity politics in the machinations of the American literary establishment, perhaps about the plight of the white man as an outgrowth of those politics—he also did it, it seems, as a matter of expediency: A pseudonym seemed to be the only way he could get this particular poem published." Writing for '' Rumpus'', Brian Spears characterized Hudson's use of a Chinese pen name to be "yellowface", and said "even in the creative world, for all our reputation as an open liberal stronghold, straight white male is the default against which all other writing is contrasted". Further, Spears opined that a white male adopting the name of a marginalized minority is an act that is both crass and offensive. ''

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

'' writer Katy Waldman described Hudson's submission as an unethical "attempt to game the poetry submission system" that "reap(ed) the benefits of affirmative action".Katy Waldman
"The White Poet Who Used an Asian Pseudonym to Get Published Is a Cheater, Not a Crusader"
''Slate'' (Lexicon Valley Blog), September 7, 2015. Retrieved September 12, 2015.Katy Waldma
"Is this racist or white privilege? After poem rejected 40 times, white poet publishes it under Asian name"
''National Post'', September 8, 2015. Retrieved September 12, 2015. Waldman characterizes the poem as "a poetry of grievance, and if flecks of self-mocking humor soften its despair, I'd argue that it's still slightly more interesting coming from a Chinese American writer than a white one". However, Waldman asks whether "Hudson's immoral gambit exposed a flaw in the literary ecosystem? Why should a poem be rejected under one name and accepted under another."

Rod Dreher Raymond Oliver Dreher Jr. (born February 14, 1967), known as Rod Dreher, is an American writer and editor living in Budapest, Hungary. He is a senior editor and blogger at ''The American Conservative'' and author of several books, including ''H ...

, writing in ''

The American Conservative ''The American Conservative'' (''TAC'') is a magazine published by the American Ideas Institute which was founded in 2002. Originally published twice a month, it was reduced to monthly publication in August 2009, and since February 2013, it has ...

'' said that the poetry community "cannot have it both ways"—in seeking diversity as a chief criterion, it will sacrifice merit and fairness.Rod Dreher
"Actually, That Poem Sounds Better in Chinese"
''The American Conservative'', September 9, 2015. Retrieved September 12, 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hudson, Michael Derrick 1963 births Living people People from Wabash, Indiana Writers from Fort Wayne, Indiana American male poets American librarians American genealogists 20th-century American poets 21st-century American poets Poets from Indiana Indiana University Bloomington alumni 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers American male non-fiction writers 20th-century pseudonymous writers 21st-century pseudonymous writers

Early life and education

Poetry

Yi-Fen Chou and ''Best American Poetry''

See also

References