1. Ka Vang is a Hmong-American writer in the United States.
14 Facts About Ka Vang
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Ka Vang is a recipient of the Archibald Bush Artist Fellowship and several other artistic and leadership awards.
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Ka Vang is the author of the children's book, Shoua and the Northern Lights Dragon, a finalist for the 23rd Annual Midwest Book Awards in 2012.
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The daughter of a major in the Royal Lao Army and a shaman, Ka Vang grew up in her early years in Thai refugee camps before resettling in the United States Midwest, with the majority of her formative years spent in the Twin Cities and the Frogtown quarter of St Paul, Minnesota.
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Ka Vang has traveled to over 40 different countries for research and leisure.
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Ka Vang's work is taught in classrooms and has appeared nationally in magazines and newspapers.
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Ka Vang was one of the first Hmong-American news journalist in the world working for the St Paul Pioneer Press and Chicago Tribune, and for 10 years was a regular columnist for the Minnesota Women's Press.
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Ka Vang is featured the anthology, Charlie Chan Is Dead 2: At Home In The World, the first Hmong writer to be featured in the series.
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In 2008, Ka Vang's writings were published in two bestselling anthologies.
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Ka Vang's poetry has a distinctive style compared to other Hmong writers for its strong imagery and use of metaphor, typically fused with contemporary social concerns as well as pop culture and literary references from both Western and Hmong traditions.
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Ka Vang's poems are written with a strong sense of the oral tradition of poetry, and contemporary influences of spoken word and performance poetry.
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Ka Vang began experimenting with playwriting in the 2000s, starting as a 2001 and 2002 Many Voices Fellow at the Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis.
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Ka Vang is credited with keeping the Hmong art form of oral storytelling alive by her performances and folklore collection.
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Ka Vang is currently a Constellations Fellow at the Center for Cultural Power, where she tells stories in partnership with the Indigenous Roots Cultural Arts Center.