RAY HSU

Ray Hsu for DESK SPACE

DESK SPACE Who (a one-liner or a bio)?

RAY HSU I'm a postdoc in creative writing at the University of British Columbia. I received my PhD in English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. My book of poems, Anthropy, got the Gerald Lampert award, and I have over thirty journals to thank for taking over a hundred poems of mine. I taught for a few years in a US prison, where I formed the Prison Writing Workshop with a group of incarcerated writers.



DS When did you start writing, publish your first book (or when are you publishing your next)?

RH I started writing Choose Your Own Adventures in second grade, but didn't start poetry until undergrad. I put out my first book in 2004 and my next is due spring 2010.



DS Where do you write (at your desk/outside/in bed)?

RH I usually write in cafes (can't get the accent on this keyboard).



DS Why do you work where you do (at your desk because it is a quiet space/outside b/c it helps you think/in the park b/c you can smoke, etc)?

RH I work in cafes because I live osmotically off the buzz of folks brainstorming around me.



DS What are you working on now?



RH I'm working at Gene's, a cafe where Kingsway meets Main, in Vancouver. The leaves are undulating in the sun.