Michael Derrick Hudson
29th September 2015
As a poet, Hudson has been published in several journals and literary reviews. His poems were nominated for the Pushcart Prize by the Greensboro Review and North American Review. Hudson gained attention by publishing a poem in the literary periodical Prairie Schooner which then was selected by poet and novelist Sherman Alexie for the 2015 edition of the Best American Poetry anthology series. Hudson, who is Caucasian, submitted the poem and had been rejected 40 times under his own name. He then used the pen name of Yi-Fen Chou, putatively a Chinese female, and it was accepted for publication.
Critics and people within the poetry community were critical of Hudson’s use of a pseudonym. Some called it racist, an act of “yellowface,” or describing it as “literary fraud”. Others were critical of the publishing establishment for inserting affirmative action and identity politics into the editorial selection process.
Yellow lies matter.