Bryan Thao Worra - Writing

Writing

Bryan Thao Worra has written creatively from an early age, but began seriously writing in 1991. Some of his earliest writing first appeared in the Otterbein College literary magazine Quiz and Quill and the campus newspaper, the Tan and Cardinal. He often performed in the Otterbein College Philomathean Room in Towers Hall, and at local coffee houses in Westerville.

A widely published Laotian writer, his work appears in over 90 publications including the Bamboo Among the Oaks anthology, the journalsWhistling Shade, Urban Pioneer, Unarmed, the Asian Pacific Journal and the Journal of the Asian American Renaissance and the anthology Outsiders Within. In 2011 he was approved as an active member of the Horror Writers Association. He holds active membership in the Science Fiction Poetry Association.

Thao Worra's writing explores many themes including transience, identity and home. His style is frequently experimental and draws from a variety of modern and contemporary influences, including science fiction and horror. In interviews, he has cited numerous literary influences including Franz Kafka, Jorge Luis Borges, Samuel Beckett, H.P. Lovecraft, Larry Hama, Yusef Komunyakaa, Heather McHugh, Tadeusz Borowski, Adrienne Su, Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits, Khalil Gibran, Joseph Campbell, Hermann Hesse and Shuntaro Tanikawa.

Many of his latter poems are influenced by his travels abroad, especially 2002-2003 when he traveled to Asia, Europe and Egypt, and from his travels to Southeast Asian American enclaves across the United States. He makes collections of his poetry available for free online in e-chapbooks to increase accessibility of his work to Laotian and Hmong audiences.

His chapbook The Tuk-Tuk Diaries: My Dinner With Clusterbombs was printed by Unarmed Press in 2003 in a limited edition. Sphinx House Press released Touching Detonations in the same year, exploring the issue of unexploded ordnance in Laos. These were the first works to emerge from his first return to Laos.

Bryan Thao Worra's first full-length book of speculative poetry, On The Other Side Of The Eye was released in August 2007 from Sam's Dot Publishing, based in Iowa. Sam's Dot Publishing specializes in speculative literature.

His follow-up book of speculative poetry, Barrow was released by Sam's Dot Publishing in 2009. Winter Ink was released in December, 2008 from the Minnesota Center for Book Arts. In the summer of 2009, he released an additional book of poetry, Tanon Sai Jai based on the Lao American journey. Tanon Sai Jai included many references to other Lao American writers and their books, including the work of Thavisouk Phrasavath, Phayvanh Luekhamhan, Catzie Vilayphonh of Yellow Rage, and Saymoukda Vongsay.

Thao Worra often writes as a freelance reporter for several Asian American newspapers including Asian American Press, interviewing numerous Asian American artists and covering community events. He is an occasional contributor to the Twin Cities Daily Planet. He has written op-ed columns for the Pioneer Press and community newspapers, primarily on Asian American subjects.

Bryan Thao Worra was a 2002 Minnesota Playwrights' Center Many Voices Fellow. His play Black Box was performed at the Sex/No Sex Festival, Ensemble Studio Theater, New York, NY in November, 2006. He also assisted in the editing of the modernized theater adaptation of Phadaeng and Nang Ai, a traditional Lao/Isan Love Story by Suthasinee Srisawat in May, 2007 for Bakka Magazine.

He was an active member of the SatJaDham Lao Literary Project, working to promote the work of Laotian and Hmong artists and writers. Thao Worra organized several public readings and exhibitions of Laotian and Asian American artists in Minnesota, including Emerging Voices (2002), The Five Senses Show (2002), Lao'd and Clear (2004), and Giant Lizard Theater (2005). He has assisted and performed with professional storytelling groups in Minnesota.

In 2009, Thao Worra became the first Laotian American writer to receive a fellowship in literature from the United States government's National Endowment for the Arts to continue his work as a poet. NEA Literature Fellowships are awarded to published creative writers of exceptional talent in the areas of prose and poetry to advance the goal of encouraging and supporting artistic creativity and preserving our diverse cultural heritage. The NEA was established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government, and the Endowment is the nation's largest annual funder of the arts.

Thao Worra received funding from the Loft Literary Center and the Minnesota State Arts Board to promote his work and to complete additional books.

He was recognized in 2009 by the State Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans with the Asian Pacific Leadership Award for Excellence in the Arts. In 2010, he was recognized by the Lao Professionals of Elgin, Illinois with their Literacy Award at the 2010 Lao Artists Festival.

He was a key figure in convening the National Lao American Writers Summit in Minneapolis, Minnesota in August, 2010. He also organized the Legacies of War: Refugee Nation exhibit and multidisciplinary arts festival in October, 2010 at Intermedia Arts in Minneapolis.