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Poet Li-Young Lee on His Family's Escape from Mao's China

Lee has written two volumes of poetry, Rose and The City in Which I Love You. He's won many awards for his work, including the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship. He's just completed a memoir about his family's refugee experience in America, The Winged Seed. Lee was born in Indonesia; his parents were from China, where his father had been private physician to Mao. After escaping Southeast Asia, the family ended up in a small town in Pennsylvania, where his father headed an all-white Presbyterian church.

15:38

Other segments from the episode on March 8, 1995

Fresh Air with Terry Gross, March 8, 1995: Interview with Masha Gessen; Interview with Li-Young Lee; Review of soundtrack albums for the films "The Jerky Boys," "Boys on the Side," and "Pret-a-Porter…

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