street home buy stuff links mic get bao bio calendar resume dream journal gallery guestbk works poetry audio photo Write Bao at info@baophi.com. Bio Thien-bao Phi was born in Sai Gon, Viet Nam, the youngest son to two mixed blood Chinese and Vietnamese parents who raised him in the Phillips neighborhood of South Minneapolis as a Vietnamese boy in the hood. A graduate of Macalester College and retired pizza delivery boy, Bao has performed at numerous venues and schools locally and nationally, from the Nuyorican Poet's Café to the University of California, Berkeley. He has twice won the Minnesota Grand Poetry Slam, and also won two poetry slams at the Nuyorican Poets Café in New York. He was the first Vietnamese American man to have appeared on HBO's Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry, and the National Poetry Slam Individual Finalists Stage, where he placed 6th overall out of over 250 national slam poets. His vision is to offer an alternative perspective on Asian American community building through the arts. He has been a featured artist in many community events, rallies and functions, including an event to raise awareness and funds for inmates Eddie Zheng and Viet Ngo, who are working in the California penal system to create an Asian American studies program for incarcerated inmates. He has taught workshops and performed for youth for organizations from the W.O.C. in Minneapolis to the Chinatown Community Development Center in San Francisco. He was an advisory panel member, workshop moderator, and performer for Intimacy and Geography, the Asian American Writers' Workshop national poetry festival in New York. He is also published in various literary magazines, journals, and anthologies, including From Both Sides Now,the Def Poetry Jam anthology, Legacy to Liberation, Screaming Monkeys, and Michigan Quarterly Review. His poetry is included in the EMC/Paradigm line of English textbooks for High School students, and has done voice work for their educational materials. One of his poems was recently selected to appear in Minneapolis/St. Paul city buses in the Poetry in Motion program. His chapbook, Surviving the Translation, has been wildly successful, selling rapidly from his backpack as well as to Asian American studies programs across the nation. His poem, 'Race', was selected by Billy Collins to appear in the prestigious anthology, Best American Poetry 2006. Currently he works as a program associate at the Loft where he curates and operates Equilibrium, a successful spoken word series he created, which invites nationally recognized artists of color/indigenous artists to share the stage with local Minnesota artists of color/indigenous artists. He is also working on his new CD, Refugeography, and continues to tour around the country. PRESS SNIPPETS AND LINKS "At 24 years old he is nationally recognized for his turbulent, thought provoking poetry on stage." -Eliza Hoyt, Asian American Press, May 28, 1999 "Phi smoothly combines familiar rhyme with subtle, insightful metaphors." -Jeremy Swanson, CD Review of "Flares", City Pages, March 29, 2000 "Bao Phi delivers work that has the urgency of fire." -Rohan Preston, Star Tribune, , Free Time Section, Feb 25, 2000 "Spoken word poet Thien-bao Thuc Phi is representing in Shots Paul." -Kemp Powers, BlazeMagazine (now defunct), November 1999 "Phi packs his rap with clear images and emotion, painting his city through your mind with a palette of words that tumble effortlessly out of his mouth - close to the street, breathing with the anxious verve of kids surviving the alley and tender with love stolen in an abandoned store." -Graydon Royce, Star Tribune, Tuesday November 7, 2000 "City kids have a hard, often despairing way to go: Thien-bao Phi delivers a lyrical testament to how they do it and still find magic in their world." -Dwight Hobbes, Pulse, November 11, 2000 "Poets aren't generally known for their infectious charm... but Bao Phi isn't just any poet...Phi's tone can shift easily from serious to humorous, although many of his funny lines are delivered with bite." -Kristin Tillotson, Star Tribune, Variety Cover Story, Aug 17, 1998 LINKS TO ARTICLES! Don't know how long these will last...I omitted the ones that are so old, you would have to pay to see them! The ones below are all free. I am not responsable for the accuracy of the journalists who quoted me... hee hee. Link to Strib article Fran Hwang's feature on me Locally Loved Mac Piece When Poets Attack