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Lang Leav

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Lang Leav
Born (1980-09-08) 8 September 1980 (age 44)
Occupation(s)Poet, novelist, author
Notable workLullabies
SpouseMichael Faudet

Lang Leav (born September 8, 1980) is an Australian novelist and poet.[1][2][3]

Early life

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Leav was born at a refugee camp in Thailand where her parents were seeking refuge from the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia.[4]

She is the youngest of three siblings. In 1981, her family migrated to Australia.[1] Leav was raised in the suburb of Cabramatta, Sydney.[5][6][7]

Leav's interest in literature started at a young age. She would transcribe her poetry into books she made by hand, which she then passed around to her peers at school.[8]

Education

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Leav attended the College of Fine Arts in Sydney. The refugee community she belonged to was critical of her decision as the field was perceived as financially unstable and therefore impractical. Nevertheless, Leav persisted.[9] Her undergraduate thesis in college, titled "Cosplaying Lolita" granted her a Churchill Fellowship Award.[7]

Career

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While Leav is known for being a writer, she initially established a cult fashion label Akina which earned her a Qantas Spirit of Youth Award.[5][7][9] In 2012, Leav began posting her poetry on Tumblr and her work amassed a large following. In 2013, she self-published her first collection of poetry and prose titled Love and Misadventure.[10] The book was a surprise hit and caught the attention of literary agents in New York. Leav signed with New York Agency, Writers House before she was offered a publishing deal with Andrews McMeel.[11][10][5] The bestselling book ranked top on Amazon.[3] Leav released Lullabies the following year which won the Goodreads Choice Award for Poetry.[12] Newsweek credits Leav for popularizing poetry.[13]

Leav subsequently published another five poetry titles: Memories (2015) The Universe of Us, (2017) Sea of Strangers (2018) and Love Looks Pretty on You (2018), all of which were nominated for the Goodreads Choice Award for Poetry have been international bestsellers. Her debut YA novel Sad Girls reached #1 on the Straits Times Bestseller chart for fiction and drew mixed reviews. Bustle wrote, “Sad Girls will have you reaching for the tissues; this YA debut is incredibly powerful.”[14] The New Straits Times and The Star (Malaysia) criticized the novel for its lack of depth and character development.[15][16]

Leav’s second YA novel, Poemsia, was also a Straits Times Bestseller[17] and drew mainly positive reviews, with Marie Claire stating: ‘Leav writes masterfully from the perspective of her protagonist, an aspiring poet, and gives readers a backstage glimpse into the new-wave poetry movement.'[18]

Readings stated, “The writing is not as lyrical as one would have hoped from a poet, but the characters are well defined.”[19]

Leav's college degree equipped her with the technical skills to illustrate several of her books, including Love & Misadventure, Lullabies, Memories and The Universe of Us.[6]

Leav has been a guest speaker at a number of international writers festival, including The Sydney Writers Festival, The Sharjah Book Fair,[20] Auckland Writers Festival[21] and was a headliner at the Mass Poetry Festival in Boston, Massachusetts.[22]

In 2019, Penguin Random House secured the audio rights to Leav’s novel Poemsia in addition to her poetry titles, including The Universe of Us, Sea of Strangers and Love Looks Pretty on You.[23]

The foreword for Leav’s poetry book September Love is written by Lili Reinhart.

Leav’s debut in literary fiction, Others Were Emeralds, was sold to Harper Perennial in a pre-empt, and international rights were secured at auction by Penguin Random House, Australia. Others Were Emeralds, based on Leav’s immigrant roots, has been praised by critics, with Publisher’s Weekly[24] describing it as “A heartrending novel.” Booklist wrote, “Leav’s coming-of-age debut is poetic and lyrical, her prose rich in beautiful imagery.”[25]

Literary critic Sonia Nair from Books & Publishing[26] wrote: “Others Were Emeralds is rich with lush descriptions and an unmistakable sense of place...there’s a beautiful specificity in Leav’s evocation of life as a second-generation Cambodian-Australian.”

Style and inspiration

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Leav's poetry work is described by the New York Times as frank poems about love, sex, heartache and betrayal. [27]

She writes mainly in rhyme, verse and prose poetry. The tone of her work is confessional.

Leav considers Emily Dickinson as an inspiration. She admires Dickinson's ability to convey intense emotion in short and compact poems. She also cites Robert Frost as an influence,[28] for his use of colloquial language. The re-occurring themes of nature, love, death and time in Frost’s poems often appear in Leav’s own work.

Maryanne Moll, an award-winning Filipino fictionist and a literary criticism student, said Lang’s poems are her way of exercising the trauma she inherited from her mother.[1] In an interview with Marc Fennel from SBS, Leav explains how her style of writing stems from being a natural translator for her immigrant parents. “Language had to be distilled as things can get lost in translation.”[29]

Criticism

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Leav is occasionally attributed to the Instapoetry movement,[30] which has been panned by the literary establishment as being derivative.[31]

Whether Leav’s work falls into this genre has been a subject of contention. Journalist Laura Grainger from Hotpress writes, “But if you compare Lang’s work to many of her contemporaries, you’ll notice she writes somewhat less like them and more in line with the work of classical poets.”[32]

Bibliography

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Poetry and prose collection

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  • Love and Misadventure (2013)
  • Lullabies (2014)
  • Memories (2015)
  • The Universe of Us (2016)
  • Sea of Strangers (2018)
  • Love Looks Pretty on You (2019)
  • September Love (2020)
  • The Gift of Everything (2021)
  • Self-Love for Small-Town Girls (2023)

Poetry

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  • Anthology of Love (2017)

Novels

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  • Sad Girls (2017)
  • Poemsia (2019)
  • Others Were Emeralds (2023)

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Novio, Eunice Barbara C. (28 February 2019). "The paradox of Lang Leav". Asia Times. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  2. ^ Yacob, Yostina (1 October 2015). "10 Modern-day Poets Who Will Mend and Break Your Heart With Their Poetry All at Once". Identity Magazine. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  3. ^ a b Qureshi, Huma (23 November 2015). "How do I love thee? Let me Instagram it". The Guardian. Guardian News & Media Limited. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  4. ^ Brara, Noor (21 March 2018). "9 Poets to Know for World Poetry Day". Vogue. Condé Nast. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  5. ^ a b c Ravindranathan, Shreeja. "Lang Leav: the most famous poet you've never heard of". Friday Magazine. GN Publishing. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  6. ^ a b Shah, Manali (24 November 2016). "EXCLUSIVE: Poet Lang Leav talks about being an unlikely social media celebrity". Hindustan Times. HT Media Limited. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  7. ^ a b c "Bewitched". The Blackmail Magazine. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  8. ^ Sheila, Rathika (12 December 2014). "Love and misadventures with Lang Leav". Poskod Malaysia. PopDigital Sdn Bhd. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  9. ^ a b Capital, Network (10 July 2018). "Lang Leav and Her Universe of Words". Network Capital. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  10. ^ a b "Love and Misadventure: Q&A with Lang Leav". ClickTheCity. 10 February 2014. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  11. ^ Lee, Erika (14 October 2015). "Lang Leav's book of poems sensitively conveys feelings of love and loss". Daily Trojan. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  12. ^ "Announcing the Goodreads Choice Winner in Best Poetry!". Goodreads. Goodreads, Inc. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  13. ^ Schilling, Mary Kaye. "The 50 Coolest Hot Weather Reads: 2018's Best Fiction and Non-Fiction (So Far)". www.newsweek.com. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
  14. ^ Oulton, Emma. "15 Spring Releases About New Beginnings". www.bustle.com. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
  15. ^ Koshy, Elena (3 March 2018). "Poet Lang Leav's debut Sad Girls is anything but a cheerful offering | New Straits Times". NST Online. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  16. ^ "Review: Sad Girls | The Star". www.thestar.com.my. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  17. ^ "Bestsellers". www.straitstimes.com. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  18. ^ Galea, Maeve. "Holiday Book Club". www.marieclaire.com.au. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
  19. ^ Crocombe, Angela. "Poemsia by Lang Leav". www.readings.com.au. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
  20. ^ Ravindranathan, Shreeja. "Lang Leav draws huge crowds to Dubai Bookstores". Friday Magazine. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
  21. ^ "AWF 2018 Programme: Open Book". Auckland Writers Festival. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
  22. ^ "Meet Our 2021 Headliners". Massachusetts Poetry Festival. 20 March 2021. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
  23. ^ "Penguin Random House". www.penguinrandomhouse.com. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
  24. ^ "Review: Others Were Emeralds". Publishers Weekly. 13 July 2023. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
  25. ^ "Others Were Emeralds". Harper Collins. 12 August 2023. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
  26. ^ Nair, Sonia (25 July 2023). "Review: Others Were Emeralds". Books & Publishing. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
  27. ^ Alter, Alexandra. "Web Poets' Society: New Breed Succeeds in Taking Verse Viral". www.nytimes.com. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
  28. ^ Hoare, Rose. "The poetic licence of Lang Leav: Behind the business of Instagram poetry". www.stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
  29. ^ Fennel, Marc. "Fans camp out overnight for her poems: Lang Leav". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
  30. ^ Qureshi, Huma (23 November 2015). "How do I love thee? Let me Instagram it". TheGuardian.com. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
  31. ^ Leszkiewicz, Anna (6 March 2019). "Why are we so worried about "Instapoetry"?". New Statesman. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
  32. ^ Grainger, Laura (9 November 2018). "Lang Leav and the Rise of Digital Poetry". Hotpress. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
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