View source for Ward Toward

{{Short description|2024 poetry collection by Cindy Juyoung Ok}}
{{Infobox book
| author            = [[Cindy Juyoung Ok]]
| isbn              = 978-0300273922
| pub_date          = March 5, 2024
| name              = Ward Toward
| publisher         = [[Yale University Press]]
| pages             = 100
| awards            = [[Yale Series of Younger Poets|Yale Younger Poets Prize]]
| image             = "Ward Toward" by Cindy Juyoung Ok book cover.png
}}
'''''Ward Toward''''' is a 2024 poetry collection by [[Cindy Juyoung Ok]], published by [[Yale University Press]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Ok |first=Cindy Juyoung |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/on1402244323 |title=Ward toward |date=2024 |publisher=Yale University Press |others=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-27391-5 |series=Yale series of younger poets |location=New Haven |oclc=on1402244323}}</ref> It was selected for the [[Yale Series of Younger Poets]] in 2023 by [[Rae Armantrout]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-02-23 |title=Artist with ‘impulse to shake things up’ wins 2023 Yale Younger Poets Prize |url=https://news.yale.edu/2023/02/23/artist-impulse-shake-things-wins-2023-yale-younger-poets-prize |access-date=2024-11-16 |website=YaleNews |language=en}}</ref>
== Contents and background ==
The book's poems concern Ok's identity as a [[Korean Americans|Korean American]] woman as well as her and her family's relationship to the events and legacy of the [[Korean War]]. It also tackles more recent incidents like the [[2021 Atlanta spa shootings]].
Ok's manuscript was selected for the 118th [[Yale Series of Younger Poets|Yale Younger Poets Prize]] by Armantrout. In her foreword to the book, Armantrout wrote:<blockquote>"This book is radically honest and unpretentious. Cindy Juyoung Ok never claims to know best. Her inquisitive, skeptical mind challenges beliefs, including any she herself might hold ... Ok's resistance to being categorized or labeled, evident throughout the book, may have begun in her experience as an Asian American or in her dealings with the medical establishment, but has become a poetics."<ref name=":0" /></blockquote>The release of ''Ward Toward'' coincided with the release of [[Root Fractures (poetry collection)|''Root Fractures'']] by [[Diana Khoi Nguyen]]. Feeling similarity between their poetic projects in addition to publication dates, Ok and Nguyen agreed to embark on a "joint book tour" in 2024. In a joint interview for [[The Cincinnati Review|t''he Cincinnati Review'']], Ok stated "we both had publication dates of early 2024 and imagined sharing these books together, letting them bring us, rootward, to our favorite friends, cities, and bookstores."<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-09-13 |title=Interview with Diana Khoi Nguyen and Cindy Juyoung Ok |url=https://www.cincinnatireview.com/interviews/interview-with-diana-khoi-nguyen-and-cindy-juyoung-ok/ |access-date=2024-11-16 |website=[[Cincinnati Review]] |language=en-US}}</ref>
== Critical reception ==
In a starred review, [[Publishers Weekly|''Publishers Weekly'']] called the book a "refreshing" and "brave and idiosyncratic debut" that tackled the history and circumstances of the [[Korean War]].
Critics observed the book's relationship to identity and history.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Cindy Juyoung Ok |url=https://thesewaneereview.com/articles/cindy-juyoung-ok |access-date=2024-11-16 |website=The Sewanee Review |language=en-US}}</ref> The [[Poetry Foundation]] lauded Ok's experiments in language as a means to tackle the "isolation and dislocation" of [[Korean Americans|Korean American]] heritage.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Simonovis |first=Leonora |title=Ward Toward |url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/books/reviews/162221/ward-toward |access-date=2024-11-16 |website=The Poetry Foundation}}</ref> ''RHINO'' argued that Ok's poems presented language as both "a ward that shapes a world ... a tool of brainwashing" as well as "a site for play ... not just a vehicle for meaning, but a visual and sonic playground."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pérez |first=Emily |date=2024-03-27 |title=Ward Toward by Cindy Juyoung Ok |url=https://rhinopoetry.org/reviews/cindy-juyoung-ok-reviewed-by-emily-prez |access-date=2024-11-16 |website=RHINO |language=en-US}}</ref> [[The Los Angeles Review of Books|''The Los Angeles Review of Books'']] argued that Ok's poems had the effect of reclaiming representation of [[Korean Americans|Korean American]] women, stating "Ok transforms society’s reduction of her identity into a skillful and imaginative poetics that embodies her corporeal self."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Xiang |first=Chloe |date=2024-03-19 |title=I Wrong Form: On Cindy Juyoung Ok’s “Ward Toward” |url=https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/i-wrong-form-on-cindy-juyoung-oks-ward-toward/ |access-date=2024-11-16 |website=Los Angeles Review of Books}}</ref> ''On the Seawall'' said the book "impresses with its depth of feeling, range of meaning, and verbal dexterity" on its litany of topics including the Korean War, Korean American identity, and various articulations of wards.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hunt |first=Aiden |date=May 7, 2024 |title=on Ward Toward, poems by Cindy Juyoung Ok |url=https://www.ronslate.com/on-ward-toward-poems-by-cindy-juyoung-ok/ |access-date=2024-11-16 |website=On the Seawall |language=en-US}}</ref> [[The Harvard Crimson|''The Harvard Crimson'']] wrote that "Questions of identity, mental health, relationships, and race collide as Cindy Juyoung Ok pushes her poetry to its full potential".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Demneri |first=Erlisa |date=April 2, 2024 |title=‘Ward Toward’ Review: A Stunning Exploration of Form Carves Out An Inventive Path for Poetry |url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2024/4/2/ward-toward-review-poetry-identity-mental-health-race-yale-younger/ |access-date=2024-11-16 |website=www.thecrimson.com}}</ref>
The book was recommended in poetry collection lists by [[Electric Literature|''Electric Literature'']] and ''[[LitHub]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ali |first=Sarah Ghazal |date=2024-04-10 |title=7 Poetry Collections that Transform the Personal Into Portals |url=https://electricliterature.com/7-poetry-collections-that-transform-the-personal-into-portals/ |access-date=2024-11-16 |website=Electric Literature |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Frank |first=Rebecca Morgan |last2=Woo |first2=David |date=2024-01-04 |title=Here Are the Poetry Books to Read in 2024 |url=https://lithub.com/here-are-the-poetry-books-to-read-in-2024/ |access-date=2024-11-16 |website=Literary Hub |language=en-US}}</ref>
== References ==
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Yale Younger Poets winners]]
[[Category:Korean-American literature]]
[[Category:2024 books]]
[[Category:Debut works]]
[[Category:Yale University Press books]]