Quan Barry

Born in Saigon and raised on Boston’s north shore, Quan Barry is the Lorraine Hansberry Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is the author of nine books of fiction and poetry, including the forthcoming novel The Unveiling, a work set in Antarctica and which Kirkus Reviews described in a starred review as “a terrifying must-read set at the ends of the earth.” The New York Times named her poetry collection Auction one of the five best poetry books of 2023. Barry is one of a select group of writers to receive NEA fellowships in both poetry and fiction. Her first play production, The Mytilenean Debate, was staged in the spring of 2022. Barry read at Vanderbilt on October 16, 2025. This pop-up exhibit was inspired by The Unveiling.