{"669917":{"#nid":"669917","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Where Craft and Mystery Intersect: Meet Victoria Chang, Bourne Chair in Poetry","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EVictoria Chang, Georgia Tech\u2019s new Margaret T. and Henry C. Bourne Jr. Chair in Poetry and director of Poetry@Tech, thinks that poets and engineers have a lot in common. Science, technology, engineering, and math rely on the same confluence of creativity, innovation, knowledge, and precision artists and poets use.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cPoetry is organized disorder, or disorderly organization. It requires organized thinking,\u201d said Chang. \u201cIt\u2019s a technical craft that comes from who-knows-where \u2014 this amazing combination of pattern, mystery, the unknown, and the unsayable.\u201d\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EChang, who began her role on Aug. 1, would certainly know. The first woman or Asian American to hold the Bourne Chair, she is an esteemed poet and award-winning author. She has won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in Poetry, the PEN\/Voelcker Award for Poetryand the Chowdhury International Prize in Literature. She also has received a Guggenheim Fellowship. \u0026nbsp;Her forthcoming book, \u003Cem\u003EWith My Back to the World\u003C\/em\u003E, will be published in 2024, joining six books of poems, a work of creative nonfiction, two children\u2019s books, and an edited anthology in her oeuvre. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETeaching Poetry at Tech\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EVictoria Chang will begin teaching Georgia Tech students in the spring, and she is eagerly anticipating working with them.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cI love a creative classroom,\u201d she added. \u201cI love the questions of pedagogy: How do you get people to love poetry? How do you help them understand the craft of poetry, as well as its mysteries?\u201d \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EThose mysteries, Chang says, are what make poetry and art necessary \u2014 not only as part of an education but as part of the human experience. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cArt comes from the soul, from that individual, unique world that\u2019s inside all of us,\u201d she said. \u201cIt can be transformative, as a form of expression and perception, and you don\u2019t have to be a poet or an artist to benefit. If my students can carry that spirit of poetry \u2014 that kind of soul work \u2014 into whatever they do, it will be very valuable.\u201d \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERebuilding Community with an in-Person Reading Series\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EAs the new director of Poetry@Tech, Chang will be working with Associate Director \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.lmc.gatech.edu\/people\/person\/travis-denton\u0022\u003ETravis Denton\u003C\/a\u003E to return the program\u2019s prestigious reading series \u2014 which has been held online since the beginning of the pandemic \u2014 to an in-person format.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cWe hope to bring people back into a physical space where poetry is centered,\u201d she said. \u201cI think there\u2019s a lot of opportunity here to reinvigorate and rebuild our sense of community.\u201d\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cTravis has planned almost the full reading series for the year,\u201d she added. \u201cHe\u2019s a great colleague, and I\u2019m happy to help him finish planning it. I look forward to supporting and collaborating with him to make this happen.\u201d\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EA Poet at Home with Engineering and Mathematics\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EChang said she learned early in life that creativity and artistic ability are natural companions to technical expertise and discipline. Her father, a mechanical engineer, and her mother, a mathematics teacher, were both artistic and creative. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cTechnical students feel familiar to me. They make sense to me,\u201d she said. \u201cGeorgia Tech and the Bourne Chair in Poetry just felt right to me.\u201d\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EMargaret and Henry Bourne, the benefactors who endowed Chang\u2019s position, wanted to ensure Georgia Tech students would always have the opportunity to learn about poetry. Henry Bourne, a prominent electrical engineering professor, considered instruction in poetry and the humanities an especially important investment in the growth and development of students in highly technical fields.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EVictoria Chang\u2019s Poetry: Soul Work\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EChang does not speak about poetry as \u201csoul work\u201d in the abstract. Her acclaimed book \u003Cem\u003EOBIT\u003C\/em\u003E, which was named a \u003Cem\u003ENew York Times Notable Book\u003C\/em\u003E and a \u003Cem\u003ETime Must-Read Book,\u003C\/em\u003E among numerous honors, is an exploration of grief following the loss of her mother to pulmonary fibrosis and her father to dementia. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cI wanted to see if I could describe something that seemed so ineffable,\u201d she said. \u201cI kept trying, refracting grief, turning it around and around. I finally realized that maybe you can\u2019t describe it, but you can get close. Poetry can get closer than anything else in the world.\u201d\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EIn her poetry, Chang often explores larger themes through the lens of her own life experience. Her work tackles power and politics, family life, ethnic and personal identity, prejudice and sexism, and more in precise, measured form. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EShe also finds inspiration in artworks ranging from the stark realism of Edward Hopper\u2019s paintings to conceptual artworks by On Kawara to abstract pieces by Agnes Martin. Her interests, she said, have developed and changed over the years.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cI write about my own perception of the world at any point in time,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s very much shaped by the life that I lead. That evolution of mind, of perception, means that we\u2019re growing and changing, as we should. That\u2019s life, I think, in a nutshell.\u201d \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EVictoria Chang, Georgia Tech\u2019s new Margaret T. and Henry C. Bourne Jr. Chair in Poetry and director of Poetry@Tech, thinks that poets and engineers have a lot in common. Science, technology, engineering, and math rely on the same confluence of creativity, innovation, knowledge, and precision artists and poets use.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Victoria Chang, Georgia Tech\u2019s new Margaret T. and Henry C. Bourne Jr. Chair in Poetry and director of Poetry@Tech, thinks that poets and engineers have a lot in common."}],"uid":"35777","created_gmt":"2023-09-25 17:10:08","changed_gmt":"2023-09-25 17:17:20","author":"Stephanie Kadel","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2023-09-25T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2023-09-25T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"671817":{"id":"671817","type":"image","title":"Victoria Chang, Margaret T. and Henry C. Bourne Jr. Chair in Poetry and Director of Poetry@Tech","body":"\u003Cp\u003EVictoria Chang began her role as Margaret T. and Henry C. Bourne Jr. Chair in Poetry and director of Poetry@Tech on Aug. 1, 2023.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","created":"1695661825","gmt_created":"2023-09-25 17:10:25","changed":"1695661825","gmt_changed":"2023-09-25 17:10:25","alt":"Victoria Chang in front of her office window with greenery in the background","file":{"fid":"254951","name":"RS3693_0L2A5296.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/09\/25\/RS3693_0L2A5296.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/09\/25\/RS3693_0L2A5296.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":101928,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2023\/09\/25\/RS3693_0L2A5296.jpg?itok=fzzdzaZd"}}},"media_ids":["671817"],"groups":[{"id":"1281","name":"Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts"},{"id":"1283","name":"School of Literature, Media, and Communication"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"9950","name":"Poetry@Tech"},{"id":"9951","name":"Bourne Chair"},{"id":"178375","name":"Bourne Poetry Chair"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:stephanie.kadel@gatech.edu\u0022\u003EStephanie N. Kadel\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nIvan Allen College of Liberal Arts\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["stephanie.kadel@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}