Brandon Som
{{Short description|American poet (born 1975)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Brandon Som
| image = Brandon Som at AWP 2025 03 (cropped).jpg
| caption = Som at AWP 2025
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1975|8|13}}
| birth_place = Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.
| death_date =
| death_place =
| occupation = Poet
| education = {{ublist|
- Arizona State University, Tempe (BA)
- University of Pittsburgh (MFA)
- University of Southern California (PhD)}}
| awards = Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (2024)
}}
Brandon Som (born August 13, 1975) is an American poet. His collections include The Tribute Horse (2014) and Tripas: Poems (2023), which won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 2024. He is an associate professor of literature and creative writing at the University of California, San Diego.{{cite web|url=https://literature.ucsd.edu/people/faculty/bsom.html|title=Brandon Som|publisher=University of California, San Diego|access-date=2024-05-06}}
Life and career
Som was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona.{{cite web|url=https://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/literary-cultural-heritage-map-pa/bios/Som__Brandon|title=Brandon Som|publisher=Pennsylvania Center for the Book, Pennsylvania State University|access-date=2024-05-06}} He is of Mexican and Chinese descent.{{cite web|url=https://poets.org/poet/brandon-som|title=Brandon Som|publisher=Academy of American Poets|access-date=2024-05-06}}
He received his Bachelor of Arts at Arizona State University, Master of Fine Arts at the University of Pittsburgh in 2002,{{Cite web |date=2024-05-07 |title=2 Pitt alums are 2024 Pulitzer Prize winners |url=https://www.pitt.edu/pittwire/pittmagazine/accolades-honors/2024-pulitzer-brandon-som-brett-murphy |access-date=2024-05-08 |website=University of Pittsburgh |language=en}} and PhD at the University of Southern California in 2014.{{cite news|url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/brandon-som|title=Brandon Som|publisher=Poetry Foundation|access-date=2024-05-06}}{{Cite web |date=2015-03-12 |title=Som Wins Poetry Prize |url=https://dornsife.usc.edu/news/stories/som-wins-poetry-prize/ |access-date=2024-05-08 |website=News and Events |language=en-US}} From 2013 to 2014, Som was a dissertation fellow at the Center for Transpacific Studies at USC Dornsife.{{Cite web |title=Dissertation Fellows |url=https://dornsife.usc.edu/transpacific-studies/dissertation-fellows/ |access-date=2024-05-08 |website=Center for Transpacific Studies |language=en-US}}
Som's chapbook of poetry, Babel's Moon, was published in 2011.{{cite news|url=https://therumpus.net/2012/12/26/babels-moon-by-brandon-som/|title='Babel's Moon' by Brandon Som|last=Eilbert|first=Natalie|date=2012-12-26|website=The Rumpus|access-date=2024-05-06}} His first complete collection of poems, The Tribute Horse, was published in 2014,{{cite news|url=https://hyperallergic.com/319389/brandon-som-the-tribute-horse/|title=Foreign Sounds or Sounds Foreign|last=Yau|first=John|date=2016-08-28|website=Hyperallergic|access-date=2024-05-06}}{{cite news|title=The Tribute Horse by Brandon Som|journal=Asian American Literary Review|volume=5|issue=2|date=Fall–Winter 2014|last=Clarke|first=Meriwether}} winning the Kate Tufts Discovery Award in 2015.{{cite news|url=https://www.cgu.edu/news/2015/02/cgu-announces-winners-of-2015-kingsley-and-kate-tufts-poetry-awards-angie-estes-and-brandon-som/|title=CGU announces winners of 2015 Kingsley and Kate Tufts Poetry Awards: Angie Estes and Brandon Som|publisher=Claremont Graduate University|date=2015-02-25|access-date=2024-05-06}}
Som's next collection, Tripas: Poems, was published by the University of Georgia Press in 2023.{{cite news|url=https://news.uga.edu/book-shares-poems-at-the-intersection-of-asian-and-latine-communities/|title=Book shares poems at the intersection of Asian and Latine communities|date=2023-05-19|publisher=University of Georgia|access-date=2024-05-06}} It was a finalist for the National Book Award for Poetry and won the Pulitzer Prize.{{cite news|url=https://www.nationalbook.org/books/tripas/|title=Tripas|publisher=National Book Foundation|access-date=2024-05-06}} The Pulitzer credit said the book "deeply engages with the complexities of the poet's dual Mexican and Chinese heritage, highlighting the dignity of his family's working lives, creating community rather than conflict".{{cite news|url=https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/brandon-som|title=Tripas: Poems, by Brandon Som (Georgia Review Books)|publisher=Pulitzer Prize|access-date=2024-05-06}}
Bibliography
= Poetry =
- Babel's Moon (2011)
- The Tribute Horse (2014)
- Tripas: Poems (2023)
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://literature.ucsd.edu/people/faculty/bsom.html UC San Diego bio]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Som, Brandon}}
Category:Writers from Phoenix, Arizona
Category:American poets of Mexican descent
Category:American writers of Chinese descent
Category:Arizona State University alumni
Category:University of Pittsburgh alumni
Category:University of Southern California alumni