Special tributes, appreciations and memories from family & friends.
To share a remembrance of Nellie, please use the contact form.
I’m already missing Nellie’s smile and laughter, her love of food, especially Cantonese dishes from childhood, her love of poetry in the musical cadences of her poems and in the way she inhabited them, making her stories, characters and dreams come alive as she spoke. She inspired me to love Hoisan-wah—when as a child, I was embarrassed by my working class dialect, and so it was that Nellie, her sister Flo, and I, peppered our poems with Hoisan-wah as The Last Hoisan Poets, with confidence and joy!
Nellie, Flo and I, The Last Hoisan Poets, were committed to preserving our Hoisan culture and language through our poems and stories, which we recited on Angel Island, in museums, schools and many public venues. Nellie leaves a hole in our hearts, yet her spirit of solidarity in sisterhood with all women, workers and oppressed peoples, will continue to shine and inspire those of us who had the honor of collaborating and working alongside her and those who will discover the beauty, strength and joy of her poetry, which she crafted with love till the very end. Thank you, Nellie, for being a sister and friend to me and so many countless others!
Rest in peace, Dei-Dei! ❤️ GENNY LIM
For Nellie, her powerful Spirit
that continues to soar.
HYEYUNG SOL YOON
PRESENTE! PRESENTE NELLIE WONG 9/12/1934-1/2/2026 Revolutionary Trotskyist Feminist Asian-American, Toisan Oakland Born and Raised, International working class Poet and Activist, Comrade/Friend/Teacher/Trainer/Mentor/Educator/Chef/Sister/Tia/Cousin/Housemate/Neighbor/Legend/Icon/Fighter/Warrior/Her name is on a high school in Oakland/ This Bridge Called My Back she’s in it and so many more anthologies/The Death of a Long Steam Lady/ she defended her politics in all circles because she worked since she was young in her family’s restaurant to being a secretary working 9to5. While it was tough to wake up today, I did it knowing she wanted me up and at the protest of the U.S. bombing of Venezuela. Nellie was the first comrade of color to train me against asian bigotry, because it’s not just hate it is bigotry and it must be squelched. Nellie’s 91years of life was a triumph against the capitalist class and system and for a socialist feminist revolution. May the cosmos embrace her and let me call upon her as an ancestor for a better world! NELLIE WONG, PRESENTE! ❤️ NORMA GALLEGOS
My deepest condolences for your loss. My name is Angel Diaz and I am the curator for the California Ethnic & Multicultural Archives (CEMA) at UCSB. I never met Nellie, but had a few email conversations with her in the last few years. And I have the honor of stewarding her papers. It is a pleasure to be able to share her legacy with scholars, students, and general public. The world is a better place thanks to her commitment to her community and to the creative work she has made.
Nellie Wong Presente!
NELLIE WONG, photographs courtesy of STEPHEN C. WILSON
“Nothing Like Freedom” Bookstore Launch Reading
November 6, 2024, Bird & Beckett Bookstore
New York City
January 10, 2026
The obituary posted here in celebration of the life of Nellie Wong is lovely. I appreciate the efforts of the author and everyone who had a hand in crafting such a beautiful tribute to every aspect of Nellie’s life. Nellie was for me both a dear friend and a precious comrade. Thank you Nellie for finding your voice and sharing your life experience and wisdom with us all. ¡Nellie Wong presente!
STEPHEN DURHAM
International Secretary
Freedom Socialist Party
KEARNY STREET WORKSHOP, “Remembering Nellie Wong”, January 5, 2026
We want to extend our condolences to the friends and family of Nellie Wong. Nellie was such an important and beloved voice as an artist, activist, and advocate for our community. We were fortunate to have been able to feature her at KSW over the last couple of years at the Asian American Lit Fest in 2024 where Nellie delivered the keynote address and with her literary collective, Last Hoisan Poets, in 2023 at the SF Library during our intergenerational panel and performances during our Dreaming People’s History exhibition run. Nellie has had a long history with Kearny Street Workshop and we are so grateful for all the support, love, and care she’s given us throughout the years.
Nellie has gifted us with so many years of incredible poetry and art with her most recent publication, Nothing Like Freedom, releasing in 2024. There was also the groundbreaking documentary Mitsuye and Nellie, Asian American Poets (1981) which you can watch on her website. We’ve also linked a copy here of her keynote address from AALF, for those looking to sit and reflect with her words during this time.
Our deepest thanks, Nellie, our deepest gratitude.
“This world heads nowhere and everywhere
This world belongs to every body
Where else can we go?
Where else can we go?”— NELLIE WONG from Fourteen-Line Poem on the World
Nellie’s brave, beautiful spirit lives on in her poetry and this message, “There is no better way to live than to fight for a better world.”
CONNIE YOUNG YU
January 10, 2026
FREEDOM SOCIALIST PARTY
– BAY AREA,
“Nellie Wong, ¡presente!”
January 2026
Dear Friends,
We are saddened to inform you that our dear comrade Nellie Wong passed away on January 2 from ovarian cancer.
She was diagnosed in mid-December and chose to forgo chemotherapy so that her quality of life would be on the level she was used to — spending time conversing with comrades, friends and family, writing poetry, enjoying good food, and consistently fighting for a better world. Nellie lived life the way she chose and that’s also how she left the world.
Nellie found her voice when she found the feminist movement. She was one of the first to call herself an Asian American feminist back in the mid-1970s. She embraced all of herself as a Chinese American woman, revolutionary, worker, poet, activist. She inspired many generations with her courage to stand by her beliefs and her willingness to fight for them. Nellie found her voice when she found the feminist movement. She was one of the first to call herself an Asian American feminist back in the mid-1970s. She embraced all of herself as a Chinese American woman, revolutionary, worker, poet, activist. She inspired many generations with her courage to stand by her beliefs and her willingness to fight for them.
Nellie was a prolific writer and she published five books of poetry and her writings were included in over 200 publications. She wrote for the Freedom Socialist newspaper and also penned the introductions to the anthologies Voices of Color and Talking Back. Her writings were a result of both her experiences and her socialist feminist politics. They were inseparable.
Nellie was a leader, the organizer of the San Francisco Bay Area FSP branch for 20 years. She was always proud to let people know of her involvement with the party and Radical Women. In every interaction, she weaved in her Marxist feminism, her belief that socialism is needed, and her conviction that the working class will make revolution.
Nellie Wong, ¡presente!
Nancy Reiko Kato
Bay Area FSP Organizer
I was very saddened to hear of Nellie’s passing. She was my downstairs neighbor until my ex and I separated and she was around when our daughter got baptized and we had a party upstairs. Nellie was an incredible poet and she taught me a lot about poetry and I’m so grateful. I was honored to read with her at Bird and Beckett our local bookstore many years ago before my daughter was born. Nellie as an activist through her membership with the freedom socialist party and through her incredible writing will be surely missed. Thank you Nellie. You made the world better
GEDDEZ FIELDER
January 12, 2026
Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center
January 12, 2026
We want to take a moment to remember beloved poet and community elder Nellie Wong. She was a member of the Last Hoisan Poets, a collective with Flo Oy Wong and Genny Lim that performed “Angel Island Insights” and “Seh Kui: Community is In the Heart” as part of USAAF 2021 and 2022. Nellie taught us that poetry can organize, heal, and endure. We were also honored to host Nellie at the opening of last year’s USAAF exhibit, Brown Palms, Yellow Balms: Reinventing Caregivers of Color, where she read several poems including “Tell These Hands,” which we’d like to share here today.
We carry her legacy forward with gratitude and love always.
THE LAST HOISAN POETS, photograph courtesy of BOB HSIANG
Nellie Wong, Genny Lim & Flo Oy Wong
The Last Hoisan Poets & Del Sol Quartet “Echoes from Angel Island”
National Angel Island Day 2023 at the de Young Museum
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco
January 13, 2026
We are saddened to hear from Sam about the passing of Nellie Wong, who was a dear community partner to us. I am so sorry for your loss. We are holding you and your community in our thoughts during this difficult time.
We are deeply grateful for the poetry, generosity and inspiration that she shared with our audience and community through her participation at the de Young museum in the Faith Ringgold Celebration, A Tribute to Hung Liu and World Poetry Day.
Sharing a blog post with her poetry inspired by the de Young: https://www.famsf.org/stories/poems-inspired-by-the-de-young
With Sympathy,
Rosario Sotelo
Public Programs Coordinator, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco