Rita Wong

Rita Wong (born 1968) is a Canadian poet.

Wong grew up in Calgary, Alberta and currently lives in Vancouver, British Columbia. She is the author of two books of poetry, monkeypuzzle and forage. Her work investigates the relationships between social justice, ecology, decolonization, and contemporary poetics. Wong is an assistant professor at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design, teaching Critical and Cultural Studies. She has another course in development, Cultivating Ecological, Cross-Cultural, and Interdisciplinary Contemplations of Water. She is also a visiting instructor at the University of Miami.

Wong graduated with a BA (Hons) in 1990 from the University of Calgary. She received master's degrees in 1992 from the University of Alberta and in 1996 from the University of British Columbia. In 2003 she received her PhD from Simon Fraser University.

monkeypuzzle

Wong's first poetry collection, monkeypuzzle, was published by Press Gang in 1998. Reviewer Sook C. Kong in Herizons called it "a huge achievement." Mark Libin for Canadian Literature agreed that the collection "does indeed, as the book jacket declares, announce a promising new voice in Canadian literature." Wong's poems in the volume address her identity as a bisexual Asian woman.

forage

forage, a second collection, was published in 2007; it explores how ecological crises relate to the injustices of the international political landscape. In Wong's words, "the next shift may be the biggest one yet, the union of the living, from mosquito to manatee to mom." Aaron Giovannone in Canadian Literature called the book "a dynamic mixture of styles .... [that] coheres because of the author’s voice, which is emboldened by a sense of sheer affront and the need to find “ground to push against, red earth, / bloody earth, stolen earth.”" The book won the 2008 Dorothy Livesay Prize.

Wong's poetry often addresses her relationship with her environment. Her poems show a close connection with nature and a support for local product, while expressing distaste for genetically modified foods. In forage, her poem 'the girl who ate rice almost every day' encourages the reader to look up Monsanto in the US patent database, and see how many patents there are for genetically modified foods, including the type of foods affected. There is also a poem, 'canola queasy' dedicated to Percy Schmeiser, the Saskatchewan farmer sued by Monsanto because he intentionally propagated genetically engineered canola that had blown into his fields. Her work challenges the reader to think about how they affect their environment. For instance, in 'sort by day burn by night' Wong brings attention to Guiyu village, a small village in China whose main profit comes from disassembling circuit boards, usually with a sharp rock because they cannot afford a hammer. When asked about her own computer use Wong notes, "as someone who relies heavily on computers, I am implicated in the degradation and eventual destruction of ecosystems (mining for coltan)", but writes to try to "reconcile [her] intent (to work toward peace and social justice) with [her] consumption patterns as a citizen in North America". She also likes wearing glasses

2008

• Contemplative Practices Fellowship
• Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize for forage

1998

• ACWW Emerging Writer Award for Poetry
• Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
• Fellowship

1997

• Canada Council Literary Arts Development Grant
• Willard Ireland Prize
• Asian-Canadian Writers Workshop Emerging Writers Award for monkeypuzzle

1996

• Margaret Burke Scholarship

1994-1996

• Basant Singh Fellowship

1991

• Arnold Edinborrough Scholarship

1990

• Trent Honours English Award