Merle Woo – Nellie Wong

America in the Fillmore

By hoisanpoet | March 12, 2025November 8, 2025 by hoisanpoet

poem seven / Nellie Wong at Ninety NELLIE WONG celebrates her ninetieth birthday with the publication of Nothing Like Freedom, her fifth collection, after Dreams of Harrison Railroad Park (1977), Death of Long Steam Lady (1986), Stolen Moments (1997), and Breakfast Lunch Dinner (2012). “Nellie Wong at Ninety” is a digital companion project centered around nine poems, chosen by Nellie to represent each decade of her storied life. In the late 1970s, Chinese American women…

Activism Feminism Mentors Musings Poetry Work

Asian American Literature Festival 2024 Keynote Address

By hoisanpoet | September 14, 2024November 23, 2024 by hoisanpoet

Chinese Culture Center San Francisco, California September 14, 2024 Nellie Wong If art cannot engage with life, it has no future —Ai Weiwei The literature, poetry, art, songs of Asian America sail and float throughout the cosmos, indeed on earth through workers’ hands, their compassion, survivors’ instincts, their respect for the living and the dead, for permanent revolution, our communal search for bread and roses, for beauty. Our voices may tremble or shout, murmur, somersault,…