Na Mee is a poet, storyteller, and teaching artist. She works at the intersection of creative writing and social practice, believing that the same tools that allow us to write and share our stories can also liberate us, heal us, and foster togetherness. Her wish for her work is that readers feel at home with themselves, with others, and with the world. She was born in Busan, South Korea, and raised on Lingít Aaní (Tlingit land, aka Juneau, Alaska), where she currently lives.
Her written work has been published and shared widely, with over fifty pieces in anthologies, journals, and more since 2010. Her work appears in anthologies like We the Gathered Heat: Asian American and Pacific Islander Poetry, Performance, and Spoken Word (Haymarket Books), The World I Leave You: Asian Americans on Faith and Spirituality (Orison Books), and Revolutionary Mothering: Love on the Front Lines (PM Press). Other notable publications include AGNI, Literary Hub, The Sun, Washington Square Review, Feminist Studies, The Rumpus, Alaska Women Speak, The Avalanche Review, and Tidal Echoes.
Na Mee has won national and regional awards for her literary work. She is a 2024 PEN America Emerging Voices Fellow, Kundiman Fellow, and a Narrative Prize finalist. Her work has been nominated for Best of the Net and her memoir-in-progress was a finalist for a Granum Prize. She received the 2021 Alaska Literary Award, a 2017 Connie Boochever Fellowship, and is a three-time Rasmusson Foundation Award recipient. She was named 2013’s Artist of the Year from the Juneau Arts & Humanities Council and was the 2014 Tidal Echoes featured writer. Alaska Women Speak nominated one of her pieces for a Pushcart Prize, and her spoken word poetry video, How to Say Goodbye won the Jury Award for Best Made in Alaska Narrative Short at the 2019 Alaska International Film Festival.