Monica Youn

Youn was raised in Houston, Texas. She graduated from St. Agnes Academy (Texas), Princeton University, Yale Law School with a J.D., and Oxford University with a M. Phil, where she was a Rhodes Scholar.

Youn is the author of four poetry collections: Barter (2003), Ignatz (2010), Blackacre (2016), and From From (2023).{{Cite web | url=https://www.graywolfpress.org/books/barter | title=Barter | Graywolf Press}}{{cite web |title=Monica Youn - Biography |url=https://worldvoices.pen.org/speaker/monica-youn/#:~:text=Biography,BARTER%20(Graywolf%20Press%202003). |website=worldvoices.pen.org |publisher=Pen America |access-date=29 January 2024}} Ignatz was a finalist for the 2010 National Book Award for Poetry;{{Cite web | url=https://fourwaybooks.com/site/ignatz/| title=Four Way Books » Ignatz}} Blackacre won the Poetry Society of America's William Carlos Williams Award, was longlisted for the 2016 National Book Award for Poetry, shortlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry, and was one of The New York Times Book Review's Best Poetry Collections of 2016;{{Cite web | url=https://www.graywolfpress.org/books/blackacre | title=Blackacre | Graywolf Press|accessdate=25 June 2021}} and From From was a finalist for the 2023 National Book Award for Poetry, one of The New York Times Book Review's Best Poetry Collections of 2023, and was recognized as amongst the best books of the year by Time, NPR, Publishers Weekly, and more.{{cite web |title=From From |url=https://www.graywolfpress.org/books/from-from |website=graywolfpress.org |publisher=Graywolf Press |access-date=29 January 2024}}

Her poems have appeared in The New Yorker,{{cite web|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/07/23/against-imagism|title=Against Imagism|author=|date=15 July 2012|work=newyorker.com|accessdate=9 April 2017}} Poetry Magazine,{{cite web|url=http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poem/250438|title=Blackacre by Monica Youn|author=|date=8 April 2017|work=poetryfoundation.org|accessdate=9 April 2017}} The Paris Review,{{cite web| url = http://www.theparisreview.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5777| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100614042516/http://theparisreview.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5777| archive-date = 2010-06-14| title = The Paris Review - Five Poems}} among other journals. She has given readings at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA),{{cite web|url=http://www.moma.org/explore/multimedia/audios/13/464|title=Museum of Modern Art - MoMA|author=|date=|work=moma.org|accessdate=9 April 2017}} on NPR's All Things Considered{{cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/2012/04/27/151517039/newspoet-monica-youn-writes-the-day-in-verse|title=NewsPoet: Monica Youn Writes The Day In Verse|author=|date=|work=npr.org|accessdate=9 April 2017}} and was a keynote reader at the 2012 Association of Writers & Writing Programs Conference.{{cite web |url=http://www.vidaweb.org/events/awp-keynote-eileen-myles-and-monica-youn |title=AWP Keynote: Eileen Myles and Monica Youn |accessdate=2012-08-27 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120302110405/http://www.vidaweb.org/events/awp-keynote-eileen-myles-and-monica-youn |archivedate=2012-03-02}}

Monica Youn credits a book of Rilke poems that she read as a high schooler with being "the click" that first interested her in poetry. For her undergraduate studies at Princeton University, Youn considered majoring in creative writing, but her parents "absolutely refus[ed] to contribute one cent" to that pathway, drawing her, instead, to pre-law with creative writing as a minor. After graduating and receiving a Rhodes Scholarship, Youn pursued a graduate degree in English literature at Oxford, where she first began publishing her poems in literary magazines; after earning her M.Phil in English, she enrolled in Yale law school. While at Yale, Youn received the Stegner Fellowship in Creative Writing and completed the manuscript for her first collection, Barter. After graduating in 1998, Youn spent the next fourteen years as a lawyer - nine years in private practice and five years as a public-interest lawyer - which she described as "workable, but grueling," and continued to write poetry "on the side"; during this period, she published Ignatz. Youn later began lecturing at Princeton University, publishing Blackacre during this period.{{cite web |last1=Diaz |first1=Natalia |title=Greek allusions and personal experiences with poet Monica Youn ’93 |url=https://www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2025/03/princeton-prospect-arts-culture-poetry-reading-monica-youn-wallace-theater?ct=content_open&cv=cbox_featured |website=dailyprincetonian.com |publisher=The Daily Princetonian |access-date=3 April 2025 |date=March 3, 2025}}{{cite web |last1=Cole |first1=Megan |title=The slow burn |url=https://www.humanities.uci.edu/news/slow-burn |website=humanities.uci.edu |publisher=UC Irvine |access-date=3 April 2025 |date=March 10, 2023}} She currently teaches creative writing at the University of California, Irvine.{{cite web | url=https://www.faculty.uci.edu/profile.cfm?faculty_id=7009 | title=UC Irvine - Faculty Profile System}}{{cite web |last1=Paulsen |first1=Stephen |title=The power language of Monica Youn |url=https://bigbendsentinel.com/2020/01/22/the-power-language-of-monica-youn/ |website=Bigbendsentinel.com |publisher=Big Bend Sentinel |access-date=3 April 2025 |date=January 22, 2020}}

She was the inaugural Brennan Center Constitutional Fellow at New York University Law School.{{cite web|url=http://www.brennancenter.org/content/people/monica_youn|title=Monica Youn - Brennan Center for Justice|author=|date=|work=brennancenter.org|accessdate=9 April 2017}} She formerly directed the campaign finance reform project at the Brennan Center for Justice. She is a member of the bar of the Supreme Court of the United States{{cite web|url=http://www.brennancenter.org/legal-work/arizona-free-enterprise-club-v-bennett|title=Arizona Free Enterprise Club v. Bennett - Brennan Center for Justice|author=|date=|work=brennancenter.org|accessdate=9 April 2017}} and was co-lead counsel for Defendant-Intervenors in McComish v. Bennett in 2011.{{cite web|url=https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/slipopinion/10|title=2010 Term Opinions of the Court|author=|date=|work=supremecourt.gov|accessdate=9 April 2017}} She has appeared on PBS Newshour,{{cite web| url = https://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/law/jan-june10/scotus2_01-21.html| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100123164508/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/law/jan-june10/scotus2_01-21.html| archive-date = 2010-01-23| title = Supreme Court Ruling Could Reshape Political Landscape {{!}} PBS NewsHour {{!}} Jan. 21, 2010| website = PBS}} Hardball with Chris Matthews,{{cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna31848671|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309105553/http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/31848671/ns/msnbc_tv-hardball_with_chris_matthews/|url-status=live|archive-date=9 March 2012|title='Hardball with Chris Matthews' for Thursday, July 9|author=|date=10 July 2009|work=msn.com|access-date=9 April 2017}} Bill Moyers Journal,{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/01292010/profile2.html|title=Bill Moyers Journal . Monica Youn and Zephyr Teachout - PBS|author=|date=|work=pbs.org|accessdate=9 April 2017}} and Need to Know.{{cite web|url=http://video.pbs.org/video/1581225943/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131220023951/http://video.pbs.org/video/1581225943/|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 20, 2013|title=Watch Full Episodes Online of Need To Know on PBS - Newsmakers Interview: Monica Youn|author=|date=|work=pbs.org|accessdate=9 April 2017}} She is the editor of Money, Politics and the Constitution: Beyond Citizens United.{{cite web |url=http://tcf.org/publications/2011/4/money-politics-and-the-constitution-beyond-citizens-united |title=Money, Politics, and the Constitution: Beyond Citizens United — the Century Foundation |accessdate=2012-08-27 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120616111607/http://tcf.org/publications/2011/4/money-politics-and-the-constitution-beyond-citizens-united |archivedate=2012-06-16}} She has testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee,{{Cite web |url=http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/pdf/11-04-12%20Youn%20Testimony.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2012-08-27 |archive-date=2012-09-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120925033432/http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/pdf/11-04-12%20Youn%20Testimony.pdf |url-status=dead}} the House Judiciary Committee,{{cite web |url=http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/hear_100203.html |title=Hearing on: The First Amendment and Campaign Finance Reform After Citizens United |accessdate=2012-08-27 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120915101619/http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/hear_100203.html |archivedate=2012-09-15}} and the House Committee on Administration.{{cite web |url=http://democrats.cha.house.gov/event/congressional-forum-campaign-finance |title=Congressional Forum on Campaign Finance | Committee on House Administration |accessdate=2012-08-27 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120913081237/http://democrats.cha.house.gov/event/congressional-forum-campaign-finance |archivedate=2012-09-13}}

She was a pledged delegate for Obama in the 2008 presidential election.{{cite journal|url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/dispatches/features/2008/adventures_of_an_accidental_delegate/how_to_fake_a_floor_credential.html|title=Adventures of an Accidental Delegate|first=Monica|last=Youn|date=27 August 2008|accessdate=9 April 2017|journal=Slate}} She has written for Slate,{{cite web|url=http://www.slate.com/search.html?q=monica%20youn|title=Search Results|author=|date=|work=slate.com|accessdate=9 April 2017}} The Los Angeles Times,{{cite news| url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-jan-10-la-oe-youn10-2010jan10-story.html | work=Los Angeles Times | first=Monica | last=Youn | title=Giving corporations an outsized voice in elections | date=10 January 2010}} and The Huffington Post.{{cite news| url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/monica-youn | work=Huffington Post | first=Monica | last=Youn | title=Monica Youn}}

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• Stegner Fellowship at Stanford University{{cite web|title=Monica Youn Lecturer in Creative Writing|url=http://arts.princeton.edu/people/profiles/myyoun/|website=Lewis Center, Princeton|accessdate=10 April 2017}}
• Yaddo residency
• MacDowell fellow{{cite web|url=http://www.macdowellcolony.org/artists-indexfellows.php|title=The MacDowell Colony|author=|date=|work=macdowellcolony.org|accessdate=9 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090526052307/http://www.macdowellcolony.org/artists-indexfellows.php|archive-date=26 May 2009|url-status=dead}}
• 2008 Witter Bynner Fellowship{{cite web|title=Witter Bynner Fellows 2008|url=https://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=4293|website=The Library of Congress Webcasts|accessdate=9 April 2017}}
• Rockefeller Foundation / Bellagio—Villa Serbelloni,{{cite web|url=http://www.fourwaybooks.com/books/youn/youn_about.php?PHPSESSID=425bc945ea6e8acd5dc1bd4e7f0701d2|title=FOUR WAY BOOKS: About Monica Youn|author=|date=|work=fourwaybooks.com|accessdate=9 April 2017}}
• National Book Award Finalist 2010{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2010_p_youn.html|title=Monica Youn, Ignatz - 2010 National Book Award Poetry Finalist, The National Book Foundation|author=|date=|work=nationalbook.org|accessdate=9 April 2017}}
• National Book Award Longlist 2016{{cite web|title=2010 National Book Award Finalist, Poetry|url=http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2010_p_youn.html#.WOuQAlMpBFE|website=National Book Foundation|accessdate=10 April 2017}}
• William Carlos Williams Award 2017{{cite web|title=Monica Youn: Winner of the William Carlos Williams Award in 2017|url=http://www.poetrysociety.org/psa/awards/annual/winners/2017/award_9/|website=Poetry Society of America|accessdate=10 April 2017}}
• National Book Critics Circle Award finalist 2017{{cite web|title=National Book Critics Circle Announces Finalists for 2016 Awards|url=http://bookcritics.org/blog/archive/national-book-critics-circle-announces-finalists-for-2016-awards/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170117185137/http://bookcritics.org/blog/archive/national-book-critics-circle-announces-finalists-for-2016-awards|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 17, 2017|website=Critical Mass: The blog of the National Book Critics Circle Board of Directors|accessdate=10 April 2017}}
• PEN Open Book Award Finalist 2017{{cite web|title=2017 Pen America Literary Awards Finalist|url=https://pen.org/2017-pen-america-literary-awards-finalists/|website=Pen America|date=18 January 2017|accessdate=10 April 2017}}
• Guggenheim Fellowship, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, New York City, 2018{{cite web|title=Monica Youn|url=https://www.gf.org/fellows/all-fellows/monica-youn/|website=John Simon Guggenheim Foundation}}
• Levinson Prize, Poetry Foundation 2019{{cite web|title=Poetry Magazine Prizes|url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/prizes|website=Poetry Magazine|date=3 January 2022}}

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{{Expand list|date=December 2016}}

• {{cite book |author=Youn, Monica |title=Barter |location=Saint Paul, MN. |publisher=Graywolf Press |year=2003 |isbn=9781555973810}}
• {{cite book |author=Youn, Monica |title=Ignatz |publisher=Four Way Books |year=2010 |isbn=9781935536017}}
• {{cite book |author=Youn, Monica |title=Blackacre |location=Saint Paul, MN. |publisher=Graywolf Press |year=2016 |isbn=9781555977504}}
• {{cite book |last=Youn |first=Monica |title=From From |date= |publisher=Graywolf Press |year=2023 |isbn=9781644452219 |edition=paperback 1st |location=Minneapolis}}

• {{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f0QxrGA2vb8C&q=Monica+Youn&pg=PA168 |language=en |chapter=25th & Delores |last=Youn, Monica |title=Asian American Poetry: The Next Generation |editor=Victoria Chang |editor-link=Victoria Chang |edition=paperback 1st |location=Urbana, IL |publisher=University of Illinois Press |year=2004 |isbn=9780252071744}}
• {{cite book |last=Youn, Monica |title=Legitimate Dangers |publisher=Sarabande Books |year=2006 |isbn=9781932511291 |editor-last=Michael Dumanis |editor-link=Michael Dumanis |edition=paperback 1st |location=Louisville, KY |chapter=Nagflar; Night Ferry to Naxos; Flatlanders |editor-last2=Cate Marvin |editor-link2=Cate Marvin}}
• {{cite book |last=Youn, Monica |title=Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East, Asia, and Beyond |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |year=2008 |isbn=9780393332384 |editor-last=Tina Chang |editor-link=Tina Chang |chapter=Stereoscope |editor-last2=Nathalie Handal |editor-link2=Nathalie Handal |editor-last3=Ravi Shankar |editor-link3=Ravi Shankar (poet)}}
• {{cite book |last=Youn, Monica |title=Art and Artists: Poems |publisher=Everyman's Library |year=2012 |isbn=9780307959386 |editor-last=Emily Fragos |editor-link=Emily Fragos |edition=hardcover 1st |location=New York |language=en |chapter=Stealing The Scream}}

• "[http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2009/01/of-poetry-and-power-reflections-on-the-inauguration/ Of Poetry and Power: Reflections on the Inauguration]", Poetry Foundation

• {{cite book| title=Money, Politics, and the Constitution: Beyond Citizens United| publisher=Century Foundation Press| year=2011| isbn=9780870785214}}
• {{cite journal |ssrn=1762746 |title=First Amendment Fault Lines and the Citizens United Decision |journal=Harvard Law and Policy Review |date=February 2011}}
• {{cite journal| url=http://www.acslaw.org/acsblog/the-roberts-court%E2%80%99s-free-speech-double-standard| title=The Roberts Courts' Free Speech Double Standard| journal=American Constitution Society |date=November 2011}}
• {{cite journal| url=http://www.vanderbiltlawreview.org/2013/10/the-chilling-effect-and-the-problem-of-private-action/| title=The Chilling Effect and the Problem of Private Action| journal=Vanderbilt Law Review |date=October 2013}}
• {{cite journal| url=http://www.gwlr.org/youn/| title=Proposition 8 and the Mormon Church: A Case Study in Donor Disclosure| journal=George Washington Law Review |date=December 2013}}

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