In the Footsteps of a Thousand Griefs

The fifth collection in the Seattle Youth Poet Laureate Series, In the Footsteps of a Thousand Griefs is a thrilling exploration of culture, personhood, empowerment, and grief for the things we must leave behind. Lee’s poems are intimately shaped both by her childhood in Taiwan and her current life in—and love for—Seattle. She shuttles us between continents and years, navigating through those primal relationships that shape the places we call home. Both brave and vulnerable, attentive to sorrow and beauty alike, these poems draw strength from the past even as they question the present, reminding us there is reflective power and honor even in the smallest steps we take toward our future becoming.

Praise for In the Footsteps of a Thousand Griefs

Wei-Wei Lee’s first collection of poems combines the raw elements of emotion, sensation, personal history, and family history and heats them into a molten stream of surprising language. The poems hold you close and tell you secrets. They are brave enough to be vulnerable, to open themselves up and show you who they really are.
Karen Finneyfrock, author of Ceremony for the Choking Ghost

Wei-Wei Lee grew up in Taiwan but was born in the States, and Seattle is the first city in the States she has ever known and loved. As the 2019/2020 Youth Poet Laureate, she hopes to pay tribute to both Taiwan and America in her writing, and she hopes to do them proud.

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