Kao Kalia Yang
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Kao Kalia Yang (born 1980), aka Kao Kaliya Yang, is a Hmong American writer and author of The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir from Coffee House Press. Her work has appeared in the Paj Ntaub Voice Hmong literary journal and numerous other publications. She wrote the film, The Place Where We Were Born. She currently resides in Minnesota.
The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir is one of the first memoirs by a Hmong writer released with national distribution by a press.
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[edit] Education
Yang graduated from Carleton College with a Bachelor degree in American Studies, Women's and Gender Studies, and Cross-cultural Studies. Yang received her Master's of Fine Arts in Creative Nonfiction Writing from Columbia University.
She has taught in numerous positions across the US. As young as 12 years old, Yang has taught English as a second language to adult refugees. In college, Yang privately tutored students, and taught creative nonfiction writing workshops to professionals, including professors from Rutgers University and New York University while in graduate school. Yang has also taught the fundamentals of writing to students at Concordia University in St. Paul and courses in composition at the College of St. Catherine.
[edit] Awards and Recognition
Kao Kalia Yang has been a recipient of the Page Scholarship by the Page Education Foundation for demonstrated leadership, academic achievement, and community commitment. She has received the Gilman International Award for international spirit and the practice of diplomacy and the Freeman in Asia Scholarship toward the study of international and intra-national models of development. Yang also received Columbia University's School of the Arts Dean's Fellowship for the merit and reaches of her work and also received the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for exceptional leadership, originality and the potential to change the landscape of American society. She is the 2008 recipient of the Spirit of Carleton College Award.
Yang was selected as one of few U.S. student delegates to attend the 26th International Achievement Summit. She is also the winner of the Lantern Books 2005 essay contest.
A community activist, Yang is also an entrepreneur, co-founding Words Wanted, one of the first professional Hmong writing services in the United States.
