Asian-American poet and memoirist Li-Young Lee will be on campus today visiting classes and holding a workshop and reading. He has written two books of poetry, “Rose” and “The City in Which I Love You.”

His newest book, “The Winged Seed,” is a memoir detailing the events that have formed the nexus of his writing.

Debra Marquart, an associate professor of English at Iowa State, uses “Rose” as a text for her undergraduate poetry classes and graduate poetry seminar.

“Students really like his poetry,” Marquart said. “The response has been enthusiastic. He is a poet of a new generation and they relate to that.”

She said his text is useful to her students because “he relates appealing personal poetry dealing with the loss of his father, life within a house, caring for people around you and cultural inheritance. He has a talent for telling basic human stories.”

Lee’s past has provided much fodder for his works. He was born in 1957 to Chinese parents living in Jakarta, Indonesia. His father was physician to China’s Chairman Mao and later an adviser to President Sukarno in Indonesia.

In 1958, Lee’s father was imprisoned on political grounds after public sentiment turned against the presence of Chinese people in Indonesia. His father spent one year in jail and, after his release, moved the family to several different countries before coming to America in 1964.

Despite his rough upbringing, Lee has garnered several awards and honors including the Delmore Shwartz Memorial Prize, the Lamont Poetry Prize, a National Endowment for the Arts grant and a Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship.

He has also been featured in two of Bill Moyer’s television specials, “The Power of the Word” and “The Language of Life,” and has studied or taught at the University of Pittsburgh, Northwestern University and the University of Iowa.

“Li-Young is an essential kind of poet,” Marquart said. “I would definitely suggest that people go to hear him, especially if they have an interest in really good literature and a story that goes to the heart of experience.”

Lee will give a workshop on creative writing from 3 – 4:30 p.m. in 212 Ross. He will also present a reading of his material at 8 p.m. in the Memorial Union Sunroom. All events are free and open to the public.