Mia You: I, too, dislike it

“This is what I chose when I chose / to live through poetry / to live it or not to live at all,” writes Mia You in the opening poem of her 2016 debut collection I, Too, Dislike It. Motherhood, birth, heredity and the racialization of everyday life are themes in her balanced lyrical work. You grew up in the US, studied English at the University of Berkeley and now lives in Utrecht, where she teaches creative writing and literature in the university’s English department. Her poems were published in the art publications Objective Practice (2007) and YOU (2004). She also writes essays and reviews for publications such as Artforum, Bookforum and The Los Angeles Review of Books. She is also an editor with Perdu. She previously worked as a journalist for The San Jose Mercury News and The Korea Herald, and she translates Korean poetry and film scripts.