Lao American Poet to be featured as Guest of Honor at Midwest Science Fiction Convention

Laotian American poet Bryan Thao Worra has announced that he will be one of the Guests of Honor at the 2015 CONvergence convention in Minnesota this July. CONvergence is an annual convention for fans of Science Fiction and Fantasy in all media: a 4-day event with more than 6,000 members, and the premiere event of its kind in the upper mid-west. This year's theme is Doubleplusgood,

This is a great milestone for Laos and our poetry tradition. As a Lao American writer he has worked tirelessly to redefine the limits of Lao writing and our expectations of it. His most recent book DEMONSTRA won the Elgin Award from the Science Fiction Poetry Association for Book of the Year. As the note in his bio:

Bryan Thao Worra is an award-winning Lao-American writer. He holds over 20 awards including an NEA Fellowship in Literature, and is the author of 6 books with writing appearing in over 100 international publications. His work has been featured in Tales of the Unanticipated, Innsmouth Free Press, Journal of the Asian American Renaissance, Dark Wisdom, G-Fan, Astropoetica, Expanded Horizons, Uncanny Magazine, Strange Horizons, Lakeside Circus, and more. 

He is the first Lao American professional member of the Horror Writer Association and is an officer of the Science Fiction Poetry Association. He is the Creative Works Editor of the Journal on Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement. 

Bryan Thao Worra’s work is on display at the Smithsonian’s national traveling exhibit, “I Want the Wide American Earth: An Asian Pacific American Story.” He represented the nation of Laos in 2012 as a Cultural Olympian during the London Summer Games...  

You can learn more about Bryan Thao Worra at his blog, thaoworra.blogspot.com, and follow him on Twitter as @thaoworra.