Yi-Fen Chou: White author under fire after using Asian pen name to be published more often

The newly published The Best American Poetry 2015, an esteemed literary anthology, features a poem from "Yi-Fen Chou," the pen name of a white author named Michael Derrick Hudson.

Inside the 2015 edition, the author says that there's a "very short answer" for his reasoning. He's been rejected a "multitude of times" under his real name and using the Asian identity was a "successful" strategy for him.

"The poem in question, 'The Bees, the Flowers, Jesus, Ancient Tigers, Poseidon, Adam and Eve,' was rejected under my real name forty (40) times before I sent it out as Yi-Fen Chou (I keep detailed submission records). As Yi-Fen the poem was rejected nine (9) times before Prairie Schooner took it. If indeed this is one of the best American poems of 2015, it took quite a bit of effort to get it into print, but I'm nothing if not persistent," he writes.

"I realize that this isn't a very 'artistic' explanation of using a pseudonym. Years ago I did briefly consider trying to make Yi-Fen into a 'persona' or 'heteronym' a la Fernando Pessoa, but nothing ever came of it."

Writers responded to Mr Hudson, shortly after poet Saeed Jones posted the excerpt to his Facebook page.

Author Danez Smith tells The Independent that he hopes the author's deception doesn't continue to hurt writers of color and that his actions "distract (a function of racism) from the work of amazing writers of color published under their real names."

"Michael’s theatre has already taken up space a writer of color could have filled, his antics trivialize the experience of people of color, of growing up with a name that many white Americans refuse to fit in their mouths," he said.

"I hope his actions don’t continue to hurt writers of color, specifically writers from the Asian diaspora. I hope editors don’t use this as an excuse to continue to marginalize actual People of Color, but rather teach us a lesson about responding appropriately when racism announces itself, especially when that announcement is plain, clear and in the author’s note."

The Angry Asian Man blog also accused Mr Hudson of yellowface in poetry and predicted that the author wouldn't be enjoying his newly discovered privilege much longer.

"I have a feeling that this submission strategy isn't going to work much longer for Mr Hudson. Of course, thanks to his sh*tty racist pen name, now we're going to have editors raising and eye at the work of every poet with an Asian-sounding name that comes their way. Get the f**k outta here with that, 'Yi-Fen.'"

The anthology's editor Sherman Alexie responded to his critics in a lengthy blog post. He explained why he chose to publish the "poetry colonist" after he discovered that the author was a white man.

"I only learned that Yi-Fen Chou was a pseudonym used by a white man after I'd already picked the poem and Hudson promptly wrote to reveal himself, "he began, admitting he was angry for being fooled by the "colonial theft."

"But I had to keep that pseudonymous poem in the anthology because it would have been dishonest to do otherwise. If I'd pulled the poem then I would have been denying that I gave the poem special attention because of the poet's Chinese pseudonym.

"If I'd pulled the poem then I would have been denying that I was consciously and deliberately seeking to address past racial, cultural, social, and aesthetic injustices in the poetry world."

Mr Alexie said that in keeping the poem he commit "an injustice against poets of color and against Chinese and Asian poets in particular."

Mr Smith responded to the blog post by saying that he couldn't make sense of the editor's response.

"I can’t imagine how a writer of color, one who claims to be about literary justice for people of color, could muster the logic to reward a white man for his racist act. If being called out for 'racial nepotism' (read: our imaginary friend Reverse Racism) is the price of having one less white male voice, one masquerading as a Chinese one (for the what? mediocre poetry fame? Infamy as a catalyst for stardom?), then let them call you what they will," he said.

The [insert] Boy author and Lambda Literary Award winner recalled a conversation with poet and scholar Joshua Bennett. The scholar brought up how out of character Mr Alexie's explanation was, as he is someone "with a long track record of being critical of whiteness and its offices."

"His unfortunate actions and reasoning hopefully show us that we can’t just talk shit about dismantling racism in our world, our publishing reality, but we have to be willing to make the brave, and I believe also sensible, choice when the moment arrives."

The Independent's calls to Simon & Shuster and Michael Derrick Hudson were not immediately returned.