Victoria Chang, the Margaret T. and Henry C. Bourne Chair in Poetry at Georgia Tech, has been selected as a finalist for the National Book Award for Poetry for her collection, Tree of Knowledge. This honor places her among only 180 poets who have been recognized as finalists since the award's reinstatement by the National Book Foundation in 1991.
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Chang expressed her gratitude, stating, "It's such an honor to have Tree of Knowledge selected as a finalist for the National Book Awards. My book OBIT was longlisted in 2020 during the pandemic, so it will be nice to celebrate in person in New York with all the other finalists."
Tree of Knowledge reflects Chang's thoughts on the cutting down of a tree near her home in Los Angeles, leading her to explore themes of mortality, language, home, and history. She noted, "It spiraled out to me writing about trees in paintings that I was thinking about, and then to the expulsion of Chinese people from Eureka, California, in the 1800s."
The book not only showcases her poetry but also integrates her visual art, featuring original embroidered photo collages created from 19th-century archival images.
Chang's academic background includes a bachelor's degree in East Asian Studies from the University of Michigan, a master’s degree in East Asian Studies from Harvard, an MBA from Stanford University, and an MFA from Warren Wilson College. Her previous works have received notable accolades; her collection With My Back to the World won the Forward Prize for Best Collection, and her 2020 book OBIT garnered the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, while also being a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Griffin International Poetry Prize.
In addition to her role as a poet, Chang is a Guggenheim Fellow and has received the Chowdhury International Prize in Literature. At Georgia Tech, she not only teaches but also directs Poetry@Tech, a prominent poetry center and reading series that is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. Through Poetry@Tech, students from diverse disciplines learn the importance of poetry in craft, literature, and personal expression.
Chang is the second Bourne Chair at Georgia Tech to be named a finalist for the National Book Award; her predecessor, Ilya Kaminsky, received the same recognition in 2019. The winners of the award will be announced on November 18 in New York.