Linh Dinh

Linh Dinh (born 1963) is a Vietnamese-American poet, fiction writer and translator.

Biography

Dinh was born in Saigon, Vietnam, came to the US in 1975, and is living in Philadelphia. [cite news |title=Poet is latest in literature series |url=http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/northcounty/20061025-9999-lz1mi25poet.html |work=SignOnSanDiego.co |publisher=Union-Tribune Publishing Co. |date=October 25, 2006 |accessdate=2008-09-18 ] In 2005, he was a David Wong fellow at the University of East Anglia, in Norwich, England.Fact|date=September 2008 He spent 2002-2003 in Italy as a guest of the International Parliament of Writers and the town of Certaldo.Fact|date=September 2008

Career

He is the author of two collections of stories, [http://www.sevenstories.com/book/?GCOI=58322100141520 "Fake House"] (Seven Stories Press, 2000) [cite news |title=Fake House |url=http://www.citypaper.net/articles/011101/ae.books.bq.shtml |work=Philadelphia City Paper |date=January 11–18, 2001 |accessdate=2008-09-18 ] and [http://www.sevenstories.com/book/?GCOI=58322100747050 "Blood and Soap"] (Seven Stories Press, 2004), and four books of poems, [http://www.tinfishpress.com/dinh.html "All Around What Empties Out"] (Tinfish, 2003), [http://www.chax.org/poets/dinh.htm "American Tatts"] (Chax, 2005), [http://www.factoryschool.org/pubs/heretical/vol1/dinh/index.html "Borderless Bodies"] (Factory School, 2006) and " [http://www.chax.org/poets/dinh.htm#jam Jam Alerts] " (Chax, 2007).

His work has been anthologized in "Best American Poetry 2000", "Best American Poetry 2004", "The Best American Poetry 2007", and "Great American Prose Poems from Poe to the Present", among other places. The Village Voice picked his [http://www.sevenstories.com/book/?GCOI=58322100747050 "Blood and Soap"] as one of the best books of 2004 [http://www.villagevoice.com/books/0449,vlsfaves,59016,10.html] . Translated into Italian by Giovanni Giri, it is published in Italy as [http://www.edizionispartaco.it/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=59&category_id=8&option=com_phpshop&Itemid=54 "Elvis Phong è Morto"] . Publishers Weekly reviews Linh Dinh's [http://www.chax.org/poets/dinh.htm "American Tatts"] :: "The second effort in verse from this rising star of the small-press world turns his considerable powers to the depiction of acrid ironies, unmitigated disgust and politically charged gall. One of its opening poems imagines the poet as a half-knight, half-corpse "Cadavalier," exclaiming, "This pinkish universe is really nothing/ But a flocculation of my desires." A fast-moving poem called "Pick-Up Lines"—one of many about sexual discomfort—instructs a lover to "listen to my effluvium." Dinh (All Around What Empties Out) often imitates (or perhaps quotes) subliterary material: online personal ads, instant messaging, brochures and corporatespeak ("We've entered a new level of parking consciousness"), confessions of X-rated adventures by semiliterate writers. His swift lines also portray the kind of grotesque caricature ("The day before her abortion,/ The one-eyed lady accidentally swallowed her glass eye") used manipulatively in politics. Exploring disgust while toying with frames and assumptions, the poet becomes in one sense a real heir to Charles Bukowski; in another, he joins other younger poets (such as Drew Gardner and K. Silem Mohammad) in a movement toward hard-edged, provocative parody. It might be hard to call Dinh's volume pleasing, but readers of a certain temperament may well find it irresistible."

Dinh is also the editor of the anthologies "Night, Again: Contemporary Fiction from Vietnam" (Seven Stories Press 1996) [cite news |title=Tales of the World's 'Unchosen' Misfits |url=http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/61780319.html?dids=61780319:61780319&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Oct+02%2C+2000&author=MERLE+RUBIN&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=Book+Review%3B+Tales+of+the+World%27s+%27Unchosen%27+Misfits%3B+FAKE+HOUSE+And+Other+Stories+by+Linh+Dinh%3B+Seven+Stories+Press+%2423.95%2C+192+pages&pqatl=google |work=Los Angeles Times |date=October 2, 2000 |accessdate=2008-09-18 ] and [http://www.tinfishpress.com/vietnamese.pdf "Three Vietnamese Poets"] (Tinfish 2001), and translator of [https://www.tupelopress.org/hao.shtml "Night, Fish and Charlie Parker] , the poetry of Phan Nhien Hao" (Tupelo 2006). He has translated many international poets into Vietnamese, and many Vietnamese poets and fiction writers into English, including Nguyen Quoc Chanh, Tran Vang Sao, Van Cam Hai and Nguyen Huy Thiep.Fact}

References

* [http://www.asianamericanpoetry.com/poet_show.php?poet_id=Linh_Dinh4ga66coprq] AsianAmericanPoetry.Com Poet Profile On Linh Dinh.