American Book Awards
1 appearances
-
Edition 43 (2022) Winner
Truong Tran
チュオン・チャン
Truong Tran
Profile
- Gender
- Male
- Born
- 1969-01-01 （Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam）
- Nationality
- Vietnamese American
- Languages
- English, Vietnamese
- Residence History
- Saigon (birth) → San Francisco Bay Area (immigrated/raised) → San Francisco (current residence/working base)
Career
- Occupations
- Poet, Visual artist, Teacher
- Active Years
- 1992-
- Influenced By
- Wanda Coleman
Education
| Institution | Faculty | Department | Degree | Period | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of California, Santa Cruz | — | — | Bachelor of Arts | 1988–1992 | United States |
| San Francisco State University | — | Fine Arts (MFA) | Master of Fine Arts | 1993–1995 | United States |
University of California, Santa Cruz
Degree:
Bachelor of Arts
Period:
1988–1992
Year of Graduation:
1992
Country:
United States
San Francisco State University
Fine Arts (MFA)
Degree:
Master of Fine Arts
Period:
1993–1995
Year of Graduation:
1995
Country:
United States
Awards
| Year | Award | Work | Category | Organization | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | San Francisco Poetry Center Book Prize | dust and conscience | — | San Francisco Poetry Center | Winner |
| 1999 | Western States Book Prize in Poetry (Finalist) | Placing the Accents | Poetry | Western States | Finalist |
| 1998 | Kiriyama Book Prize (Finalist) | The Book of Perceptions | — | Kiriyama Prize | Finalist |
| 2000 | San Francisco Library Laureate | — | — | San Francisco Public Library | Laureate |
| 1992 | Ina Coolbrith Prize in Poetry | — | — | — | Winner |
| 2007 | The Fund For Poetry Grant | — | — | The Fund for Poetry | Grant |
San Francisco Poetry Center Book Prize
2002
Work:
dust and conscience
Organization:
San Francisco Poetry Center
Result:
Winner
Western States Book Prize in Poetry (Finalist)
1999
Work:
Placing the Accents
Category:
Poetry
Organization:
Western States
Result:
Finalist
Kiriyama Book Prize (Finalist)
1998
Work:
The Book of Perceptions
Organization:
Kiriyama Prize
Result:
Finalist
San Francisco Library Laureate
2000
Organization:
San Francisco Public Library
Result:
Laureate
Ina Coolbrith Prize in Poetry
1992
Result:
Winner
The Fund For Poetry Grant
2007
Organization:
The Fund for Poetry
Result:
Grant
Awards & Nominations
Works
Major Works
The Book of Perceptions
1999 PoetryA collection of poems exploring memory, perception, and personal history, often touching on immigrant experience and identity.
memoryperceptionimmigrant experience
Placing the Accents
1999 PoetryA book of poems that probes language, accent, and bodily sensation, addressing tensions between language and culture.
languageembodimentcultural dislocation
dust and conscience
2002 PoetryContains poems that traverse memory, ethics, and artful metaphors; the collection won the San Francisco Poetry Center Book Prize.
memoryethicsart
within the margins
2004 PoetryA poetry collection focused on margins and the peripheral, interweaving personal fragments with social discourse.
marginalitypersonal history
Four Letter Words
2008 PoetryA collection employing wordplay and suggestive language, composed of brief, fragmentary pieces.
wordplaysuggestiveness
Going Home Coming Home
2003 Children's bookA children's picture book addressing belonging, family, and the comforts of home.
familybelonging
100 Words
2021 PoetryA recent work composed of 100 concise words or poetic fragments, experimental and fragmentary in style.
fragmentationexperimentation
The Book of the Other: Small in Comparison
2021 PoetryA collection considering otherness and comparison, reflecting on self and other.
othernesscomparison
Bibliography
- The Book of Perceptions (1999)
- Placing the Accents (1999)
- dust and conscience (2002)
- within the margins (2004)
- Four Letter Words (2008)
- 100 Words (2021)
- The Book of the Other: Small in Comparison (2021)
- Going Home Coming Home (2003)
- I Meant to Say Please Pass the Sugar (2014)
Adaptations
- Exhibition: I Meant to Say Please Pass the Sugar (Telegraph Hill Gallery and others)
Translations of Works
- Several poems have been translated into Spanish, Dutch and French.
Style & Themes
- Literary Style
- image-driven, fragmented linesvisual and experimental textural expressions
- Recurring Motifs
- memoryimmigration/identityembodimentcritique of consumer culture
Legacy
As a Vietnamese-American poet and artist, he works across poetry and visual art, influencing local literary and arts communities. His poetry collections have been recognized domestically and abroad, and his exhibitions have drawn international attention.
Museums
- Telegraph Hill Gallery (exhibition venue) San Francisco, California
- Kearney Street Workshop (exhibition venue) San Francisco, California
Archives
- San Francisco Public Library collections (related materials)
In Popular Culture
- In 2014 he gained international attention for an installation of 9,000 paper butterflies cut from pornographic magazines as a protest against Damien Hirst's work.
Quotes
-
I aim to explore the relationship between memory and the body through words and images.
Source: Interview / Poetry Foundation and related profiles (2017)
Trivia
- He is one of the rare writers active in both poetry and visual art.
- His 2014 butterfly installation received widespread media coverage.