The Poet
Angela Eun Ji Koh is an American poet and blogger. She received her BA in English Literature from the University of California, Irvine. She has a certification in Japanese from Shinanomachi Inter-Cultural in Tokyo, Japan. Angela is currently completing her MFA in Creative Writing, Poetry at Columbia University in New York. She is fluent in Korean, Japanese, English, and conversational French.
Angela taught English in Seoul, Korea and 11th grade high school comparative literature in Santa Ana. She placed third in the statewide Ina Coolbrith Poetry Contest including the honorable mention for the Bret Baldwin. Angela worked for the International Center for Writing and Translation and graduate journal Faultine in Southern California. An award-winning editor at UCI, Angela freelanced for The Orange County Register until she moved to New York where she interned for Brick House Literary Agents. There, she read and edited manuscripts. Angela has interviewed a wide range of individuals: international icon BoA Kwon, poet Colette Atkinson, literary agent Jenni Ferrari-Adler, and others. Her works have appeared in TriQuarterly, Susquehanna Review, Gulf Stream with forthcoming pieces in La Petite Zine and The Journal. Her poems have also been featured in collaborative pieces with filmmakers Ellipse Productions and photographer Michelle Seung.
Angela began blogging at AngelaEJKoh.com in 2008 and garnered widespread attention with over 200,000 views in its first three years. She recorded her personal experiences and eventually the development of her creative process. Reader Morita says, “Her words are well chosen, polished, and elegant, yet she’s modest and never comes off as a literary elitist… In a modern world full of self-deceit, quick fixes, and lazy compromise, this is strange to me. It deserves my respect.” Her Twitter now has over 14,000 followers.
Angela was born in Santa Clara, California and moved frequently. At fourteen, her parents left for Seoul, Korea and she continued studies in Davis. She pursued political science and linguistics, but discovered poetry at UCI. Absence is often a reoccurring theme in her writing as well as violence whether it’s physical, social, or cultural. Her mentors include dantist James T. Chiampi and poets Susan Davis, Mark Strand, Lucie Brock-Broido, and Eamon Grennan. Today, she writes both poetry and fiction. Angela is working on her first novel.
Photography Louis Trinh
