"Auntie does not think in environmental terms. She does not calculate the economics of her garden, full of the flavors of home that she cannot buy, from jiu tsai to persimmon trees."
Best Article in Michigan History Magazine—“Vincent Chin: A Catalyst for the Asian-American Civil Rights Movement” by Frances Kai-Hwa Wang of Ann Arbor2017-STATE-HISTORY-AWARDS-PRESENTED-IN-HOLLAND-MICHIGAN.pdf
"I never thought my poetry would circulate, or be recognized, at a national level," Perez, who received a 2016 fellowship, told NBC News. "I hope this signals a turn of attention towards Pacific Islander poetry by American readers and literary organizations. This is especially important now, with the threats of militarism, colonialism, capitalism, and environmental injustice impacting the Pacific region."First Native Pacific Islander Receives Prestigious Poetry Fellowship - NBC News
"I have loved her work for years, and I dare say Whitman would love her work: brave, visionary, and true," Fresno poet laureate Lee Herrick told NBC News. "Her voice is simultaneously American, Asian American, and Hmong American in its singular beauty and originality. It is a groundbreaking book from an important new voice. Great poetry should widen our notion of the human condition, and Vang's poems do that and much more."Mai Der Vang Wins 2016 Walt Whitman Award for 'Afterland,' Poetry Collection on Hmong Experience - NBC News
