With My Back to the World: Poems

With My Back to the World: Poems - Paperback

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$17.00
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With My Back to the World: Poems
  • With My Back to the World: Poems
With My Back to the World: Poems - Paperback

With My Back to the World: Poems - Paperback

by Victoria Chang
$17.00
$17.00

Book Overview

by Victoria Chang (Author)

Winner of the Forward Prize for Best Collection
Finalist for the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award and the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award
Named a Best Book of the Year by NPR
Named One of the Best Poetry Collections of the Year by The Guardian, Literary Hub, and Electric Literature

A new collection of poetry inspired by the work of Agnes Martin, exploring topics of feminism, art, depression, and grief, by the author of the prizewinning collection Obit.

Yesterday I slung my depression on my back and went to the museum. I only asked four attendants where the Agnes painting was and the fifth one knew. I walked into the room and saw it right away. From afar, it was a large white square.

With My Back to the World engages with the paintings and writings of Agnes Martin, the celebrated abstract artist, in ways that open up new modes of expression, expanding the scope of what art, poetry, and the human mind can do. Filled with surprise and insight, wit and profundity, the book explores the nature of the self, of existence, life and death, grief and depression, time and space. Strikingly original, fluidly strange, Victoria Chang's new collection is a book that speaks to how we see and are seen.

Author Biography

Victoria Chang's forthcoming book of poems, With My Back to the World, will be published in 2024 by Farrar, Straus & Giroux. Her latest book of poetry is The Trees Witness Everything (Copper Canyon Press, 2022). Her nonfiction book, Dear Memory (Milkweed Editions), was published in 2021. OBIT (Copper Canyon Press, 2020), her prior book of poems, was named a New York Times Notable Book, a Time Must-Read Book, and received the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in Poetry, and the PEN/Voelcker Award. It was also longlisted for a National Book Award and named a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Griffin International Poetry Prize. She has received a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Chowdhury International Literature Award. She is the Bourne Chair of Poetry at Georgia Tech and the Director of Poetry@Tech.

Number of Pages: 112
Dimensions: 0.5 x 9 x 6 IN
Publication Date: April 01, 2025
ISBN9780374615970
Author Victoria Chang
PublisherFarrar, Straus and Giroux
GenreLiterature
FormatPaperback
PublishedApril 2025
LanguageENG- English
Pages112
Weight1.0 lb
Target AudienceAdults
Print SizeStandard Print

Related Subjects

Nonfiction Poetry

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More by Victoria Chang

Dear Memory: Letters on Writing, Silence, and Grief

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About Victoria Chang

Victoria Chang has written several books of poetry, including With My Back to the World, which received the Forward Prize in Poetry for Best Collection of Poems. Her poetry collection OBIT was named a New York Times Notable Book and a TIME Must-Read Book, and received the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in Poetry, and the PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry. It was also long-listed for a National Book Award and named a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Griffin International Poetry Prize. She has published many other books including a nonfiction book, Dear Memory and several books for children such as a middle grade verse novel, Love Love. Chang has received a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Chowdhury International Literature Award. She is the Bourne Chair in Poetry at Georgia Tech and the Director of Poetry@Tech.

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