On April 17, at 7 PM in Naylor Auditorium in Gailor Hall, Sewanee Poet-in-Residence Stephanie Choi will read from her brand-new collection, The Lengest Neoi, which won the Iowa Poetry Prize. There will be a reception and book signing after the event. The event is free and open to the public, and copies of The Lengest Neoi will be available for purchase. 

The Lengest Neoi, which combines a colloquial Cantonese phrase (Leng Neoi / “Pretty Girl”) and the English suffix for the superlative degree (—est), speaks to experiences of language across boundaries and bodies. Choi's poetry has been described as "a shock to the senses," "wily, radical, fluidly ingenious with words, image, emotion," and "formally playful, intellectually rich." Published by the University of Iowa Press, the new collection will be available for purchase in a special arrangement with the publisher. 

Booklist reviews it: “Choi’s debut collection examines self, identity, language, and what it means to meet or subvert expectations as well as what each might signal when in or out of alignment with one another. These poems push against standard conventions of form and line, using crossword puzzles, emails, and voice messages to weave a wide and piercing translation of loss, seeing, and deep and persistent love.”