How to Not Be Afraid of Everything
My second book, How to Not Be Afraid of Everything, was published by Alice James in 2021.
“Fists curling and uncurling. People who don't look each other in the eye. Food, and everyone coming together around it. These are the images at the core of Jane Wong's second collection of poems, How To Not Be Afraid Of Everything.”
Kind words:
“Food and other kinds of nourishment are at risk of rotting, of being taken away by rats or ‘thin black snakes in the flour bin.’ Wong saves what she can in the storehouse of these poems.” - The New York Times
“A poet, essayist, visual artist, professor, and soon-to-be memoirist, there isn’t much Jane Wong doesn’t do in the artistic realm, and this second collection of poems is additional proof, if you needed it. One of the ways we learn to be unafraid—if that’s ever something we can do entirely—is to face where we come from and what ghosts we carry, whether ours or others’.” - Chicago Review of Books
“… Wong's powerful poems draw the reader's attention and insist the audience not look away.” - Publishers Weekly
“An electric thread of fear lives in [Wong’s] lines, with a clear and defiant will to if not master it then learn how to best live with it. ‘I repeat: I will not be afraid / that the world is about power. / My ghosts fill me with feathers, / my lungs: a mane unplucked.’” - Boston Globe
“Jane Wong’s aptly titled second book offers a vivid portrait of Chinese immigrant life in the United States through an array of poetic forms, surprising metaphors, and images that hit with startling resonance.” - Harriet Books:
“How to Not Be Afraid of Everything is a triumph of formal ingenuity and in the hallucinatory intensity of the imagery throughout. Wong’s new book compels us to remember that behind the broad designation “Asian American” is an infinite range of specific, distinct historical experiences.” - Ploughshares
“Jane Wong is a connoisseur of sounds, which also makes her a conductor of subtle and elegant rhythms. A poet who spoon-feeds her reader nothing, she is also, simultaneously, a poet who offers everyone a place at her ambitious, well-fortified table.” - The Rumpus
“What stories can food tell about us? About our histories, our wounds, our allegiances? What does it mean “to love a country that refuses / to look you in the eye[?]” These are questions asked within this collection, which interrogates what it means to grow up in abundance and, at times, excess, just a generation after your family endured through famine, in this case, the Great Leap Forward famine. A truly memorable, evocative collection.” - Books are Magic, Most Anticipated Books of Fall/Winter 2021
“The collection often surprises in its playfulness or self-deprecation, given the weight of the poems’ subject matter, and is a solid addition to poetry collections.” - Library Journal
Select interviews and conversations:
The Asian American Writers’ Workshop, with Tessa Hulls
BOMB, with Diana Khoi Nguyen
The Adroit Journal, with Leland Cheuk
The Asian American Writers’ Workshop Lunch Series, with Elaine Hsieh Chou
Honey Literary, with Dorothy Chan
The International Examiner, with Michelle Penaloza
Frontier Poetry, with Saba Keramati
Shondaland: 10 Essential Authors to Celebrate During Women’s History Month & Electric Lit’s Favorite Poetry Collections of 2021 & Entropy: Best of 2020-2021 Poetry Books & The Lantern Review: An Asian American Poetry Companion List & The Rumpus: What to Read When You’ve Made it Halfway Through 2021 & What to Read When You Want to Celebrate APIA Heritage Month
Read poems from the collection:
“Everything” via the Poetry Foundation
"After Preparing the Altar, the Ghosts Feast Feverishly” via the Poetry Foundation
Buy the book:
