With My Back to the World

Short-listed for the Forward Prize for Best Collection

A new collection of poetry inspired by the work of Agnes Martin, exploring topics of feminism, art, depression, and grief, by the author of the prizewinning collection Obit.

Yesterday I slung my depression on my back and went to the museum. I only asked four attendants where the Agnes painting was and the fifth one knew. I walked into the room and saw it right away. From afar, it was a large white square.

With My Back to the World engages with the paintings and writings of Agnes Martin, the celebrated abstract artist, in ways that open up new modes of expression, expanding the scope of what art, poetry, and the human mind can do. Filled with surprise and insight, wit and profundity, the book explores the nature of the self, of existence, life and death, grief and depression, time and space. Strikingly original, fluidly strange, Victoria Chang's new collection is a book that speaks to how we see and are seen.

Victoria Chang has written several books of poetry, including The Trees Witness Everything, and a nonfiction book, Dear Memory. Her poetry collection Obit was named a New York Times Notable Book and a Time Must-Read Book, and received the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, and the PEN/Voelcker Award. It was also long-listed for a National Book Award and named a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Griffin Poetry Prize. Chang has received a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Chowdhury Prize in Literature. She is the Bourne Chair in Poetry at Georgia Tech and the director of Poetry@Tech.

• Publisher: Farrar, Straus, &  Giroux (April 1, 2025)
• Language: English
• Paperback: 112 pages
• ISBN-13: 9780374615970
• Item Weight: 16 ounces
• Dimensions: ‎6.12 x 1.0 x 9.12 inches
• BISAC Categories: Subjects & Themes - Death, Grief, Loss, Women Authors, American - General, American - Asian American