معرفی
Franny Choi (they/she) is a queer Korean American poet, essayist, and Professor of Literature at Bennington College, where they joined the faculty in Fall 2022. They teach courses including Reading & Writing Poetry, Queer Asian Pacific American Literature, Race and the Poetic Avant-Garde, and Poetry and Technology through Fall 2025. Choi is also the current Poet Laureate of Northampton, MA, and a member of the Dark Noise Collective.
Choi holds a B.A. in Literary Arts and Ethnic Studies from Brown University and an MFA in Poetry from the University of Michigan's Helen Zell Writers' Program. Their scholarly journey was enriched by community work with artists and activists in Providence, Rhode Island, where they served as Co-Director of the Providence Poetry Slam and engaged in organizing for police abolition and immigrant rights.
Choi's research interests intersect at the crossroads of race, gender, technology, history, and the speculative imagination. Their work critically examines Asian American identity, queer experiences, techno-Orientalism, and the possibilities of abolitionist futures. Through poetry and essays, Choi explores how marginalized communities navigate systems of power while imagining alternative worlds. Their writing often employs cyborg theory, speculative fiction, and historical reimagining to challenge dominant narratives.
Choi's publications demonstrate a consistent engagement with science fiction poetry, Asian American literary traditions, and social justice themes. Their most recent book, The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On (2022), was named one of TIME's '100 Must-Read Books of 2022' and NPR's 'Books We Love.' The collection continues Choi's exploration of technology, racial identity, and queer futurity that began with their award-winning Soft Science (2019), which won the Elgin Award for Science Fiction Poetry.
- Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Fellowship
- Science Fiction Poetry Association's Elgin Award
- Holmes National Poetry Prize from Princeton University
- Rhode Island State Council on the Arts Fellowship
- Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award finalist
- Lambda Literary Award finalist
As an educator and community organizer, Choi has taught students of all ages through organizations like Project VOICE and InsideOut Literary Arts Project. They founded Brew & Forge, a project connecting writers with movement workers, and co-hosted the Poetry Foundation podcast VS with Danez Smith for five seasons. Choi's forthcoming essay collection, under contract with Ecco Press, explores race, robots, and techno-Orientalism, continuing their interdisciplinary approach to understanding identity in technological contexts.
Choi maintains active engagement with multiple creative communities, serving as a curator for Split This Rock and the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center to highlight queer and trans poets of Asian/Pacific diasporas. Their work bridges academic scholarship, creative writing, and social justice activism, creating spaces for marginalized voices in literary and academic spaces.
