J. Mae Barizo on Intersecting Poetry, Music, and Minimalism in "Tender Machines" [INTERVIEW]

J. Mae Barizo, born in Toronto to Filipino immigrants, is a poet, essayist, librettist and multidisciplinary artist. She is the author of two books of poetry, Tender Machines (Tupelo Press, 2023) and The Cumulus Effect. A finalist for the Graywolf Nonfiction Prize and the 2023 Megaphone Prize, her work has been anthologized in books published by W.W. Norton, Atelier Editions and Harvard University Press. Recent writing appears in Poetry, Ploughshares, Esquire, Los Angeles Review of Books, Paris Review Daily, Boston Review, BookForum, among others. As a librettist, she is the inaugural recipient of Opera America's IDEA residency, given to artists who have the potential to shape the future of opera. Her monodrama ISOLA will have its world premiere at Long Beach Opera in 2024, and UNBROKEN, commissioned for Opera Theatre of St. Louis, will be premiered in 2024. She is also the recipient of fellowships and awards from Bennington College, Mellon Foundation, Opera America, Jerome Foundation and Poets House. She is on the MFA faculty of The New School and lives in New York City.