Meet the Editor: Alina Nguyễn
In this Meet the Editor series, we’re asking our assistant editors about their work on the Schooner and thoughts on their respective genres. Read our second installment with assistant poetry editor Alina Nguyễn below.
Alina Nguyễn
Assistant Poetry Editor
What brought you to UNL and to working with the Schooner?
The faculty at UNL brought me here—I wanted to work with professors and writers working at similar intersections that I’m interested in. I’ve always been fascinated with behind-the-scenes processes, so working with the Schooner made sense to me as I want to help make something become whole.
What do you look for when reading submissions?
I look for surprises. I want to be moved to the point where my entire body says: This is a poem!
Can you recall one piece you were moved by and why?
The pieces that moved me recently are the forthcoming cluster of “Self-Portrait” poems by David Hernandez because they interrogate what it means to have a body in this world that is simultaneously in “awe and terror.”
Has working as an editor for Prairie Schooner impacted your own creative work?
Yes, being an editor motivates me to keep going with my own writing! It’s a joy to get to spend time with poems from folks all over the world.
What types of poetic risks and innovations excite you?
The structure of a poem on the page excites me because of my interest in design.
How do you know when a poem’s form is best serving its content?
When it feels synonymous with its contents, as if the two can’t live without one another. The form can further enhance enjambment, and, in turn, enhance surprise!
What would you like to see more of in contemporary poetry?
I want to see more bilingual and multilingual poetry and the celebration of the in-between.
Alina Nguyễn was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA, and the proud daughter of Vietnamese immigrants. Her risograph chapbook, Before There Were More Ghosts, was published by Tomorrow Today. Alina’s work has appeared in Bellingham Review, Breakwater Review, Lunch Ticket, Bloomsbury, and others. If you know of a good hot dog spot, she’d appreciate a recommendation.