Bryan Thao Worra
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Bryan Thao Worra (1973- ) is a Laotian American poet, writer, and journalist.
He was born Thao Somnouk Silosoth in Vientiane, Laos on January 1, 1973 during the Laotian Secret War (1954-1975). He came to the United States in July, 1973 as the adopted child of an American pilot working in Laos for Royal Air Lao. Bryan Thao Worra's early years were spent in Missoula, Montana, Anchorage, Alaska, and Saline, Michigan.
He attended a number of private Lutheran schools. Thao Worra later attended the Rudolf Steiner School in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he received a Waldorf education. He attended Otterbein College in Westerville, Ohio between 1991-1997, dividing his studies between communications and philosophy/religion. He currently resides in Minnesota.
He has written creatively since he was a child, but began seriously writing in 1991, with a particular focus on poetry. Some of his earliest writing first appeared in the Otterbein College literary magazine Tan and Cardinal.
One of the most widely published Laotian writers, his work has appeared in the "Bamboo Among the Oaks" anthology, as well as Whistling Shade, Urban Pioneer, Unarmed, the Asian Pacific Journal and the Journal of the Asian American Renaissance, among many others.
Thao Worra's work frequently explores a wide range of social and cultural themes such as the transient nature of identity and home. His style is frequently experimental and draws from a variety of modern and contemporary influences.
He makes several collections of his poetry available for free online in e-chapbooks to increase accessibility of his work to Laotian and Hmong readers. His chapbook "The Tuk-Tuk Diaries: My Dinner With Clusterbombs" was printed by Unarmed Press in 2003 in a limited edition.
His first full-length book of poems, On The Other Side Of The Eye was released in August 2007 from Sam's Dot Publishing.
He frequently serves as a freelance reporter for Asian American newspapers including Asian American Press, focusing on interviews with Asian American writers and artists.
He was a 2002 Minnesota Playwrights' Center Many Voices Fellow and is an active member of the SatJaDham Lao Literary Project, working actively to promote the work of Laotian and Hmong artists and writers. Thao Worra has organized several public readings and exhibitions of Laotian and Asian American artists in Minnesota, including Emerging Voices (2002), The Five Senses Show (2002), Lao'd and Clear (2004), and Giant Lizard Theater (2005).
Bryan Thao Worra has typically worked with community service agencies such as Hmong National Development, the National Youth Leadership Council, Asian Media Access, and Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly. He has also volunteered extensively with the Hmong American Institute for Learning and briefly served as its interim executive director.
