Bryan Thao Worra Biography

Bryan Thao Worra was born in 1973 in
Vientiane, Laos during the Lao civil
war. He came to the US at six months
old, adopted by a civilian pilot flying
in Laos. In 2003, he reunited with his
biological family after 30 years during
his first return to Laos.
An award-winning writer, his work appears in numerous international anthologies, magazines and newspapers, including Innsmouth Free Press, Kartika Review, Outsiders Within, Bamboo Among the Oaks, Tales of the Unanticipated, Astropoetica, Quarterly Literary Review Singapore,
Whistling Shade, Journal of the Asian American Renaissance, and Asian American Press.
In 2009 he became the first Laotian American to receive an NEA Fellowship In Literature. In 2012 he was a Cultural Olympian during the Summer Olympics in London representing Laos. He is the author of the books On the Other Side of the Eye, BARROW, Tanon Sai Jai and Winter Ink. Thao Worra curated numerous readings
and exhibits of Lao and Hmong American art including Legacies of War: Refugee Nation Twin Cities (2010) , Emerging Voices (2002) , The 5 Senses Show (2002) ,
Lao’d and Clear (2003) , Giant Lizard Theater (2005) , Re: Generations (2005) , and The Un-Named Series (2007) .