Monica Ong is a visual poet and the author of Silent Anatomies (Kore Press, 2015). A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, Ong brings a designer’s eye to experimental writing with her hybrid image-poems and installations that surface hidden narratives of women and diaspora. Her poetry can be found in Scientific American, ctrl+v, and Poetry Magazine, and in the anthology A Mouth Holds Many Things: A De-Canon Hybrid-Literary Collection (Fonograf Editions, 2024). She has been awarded residencies most recently at Directangle Press, the Studios at MassMoCA, Marble House Project, Yaddo, Millay Arts, and the Ragdale Foundation.
Ong’s most recent series of astronomy-inspired visual poetry was exhibited at the Poetry Foundation and is the basis of her new book Planetaria (Proxima Vera, 2025). You can find her fine press visual poetry editions and literary art objects in over fifty distinguished institutional collections worldwide. In 2024, Ong was named a United States Artists Fellow.
selected exhibitions
2024 | Stelo Arts, De-Canon, curated by Jyothi Natarajan and Dao Strom in collaboration with Stelo Arts
2024 | ArtWRKD, Nocturne: Insomnia & Other Poems by Monica Ong, solo exhibition curated by Ashara Shapiro
2024 | University of Iowa Libraries, Making the Book, Past and Present, curated by Eric Ensley and Emily Martin
2023 | Minnesota Center for Book Arts, New Editions 2023, presented by Wet Paint and Cathy Ryan & Doris Engibous
2023 | Hunterdon Art Museum, Solo Exhibition: Monica Ong, curated by Hildy York
2022 | Poetry Foundation, Monica Ong: Planetaria, curated by Fred Sasaki & Katherine Litwin
2021 | Gallery Upstairs @ Institute Library of New Haven, Planetaria: Visual Poetry by Monica Ong, curated by M.W. Lewis
2020 | Foundry Art Centre, St. Charles, MO, ConTEXT III, curated by Levi Sherman
2018 | Center for Book Arts, NYC, Monica Ong: Celestial Bodies, Feature Artist Exhibition curated by Alexander Campos
2018 | Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, CT, +The Art of Collaboration, curated by Melissa Barton, Elizabeth Frengel, & Nancy Kuhl
2017 | Visual & Performing Arts Center Gallery, Western Connecticut State University, Danbury, CT, Women's Work
2016 | University of Arizona Poetry Center & Tucson Chinese Cultural Center, Tucson, AZ, UnSilencing Anatomies, City-wide installation, exhibition, and readings on poetry & public health
2015 | Tyler Contemporary Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, Philalalia: Ink + Print
2015 | Silk Road Art Gallery, New Haven, Silent Anatomies
2014 | Rutgers Institute for Women and Art, New Brunswick, NJ, The Fearsome BMI: Women Artists and the Body
2012 | WomanMade Gallery, Chicago, IL, 20th Anniversary: 20 Jurors
2011 | The Parachute Factory, New Haven, CT, Critical Condition: When Silence Speaks, organized by Monica Ong
2011 | AC Institute, New York, NY, See You on the Flip Side!, curated by Nicole Bebout and Sonja Hoffstetter
2008 | Jedburgh Community and Arts Center, Scotland, Sound Café, Festival of sound and documentary/anthropology/enthnography, curated by Duncan Whitley
2007 | Casa do Conde, Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Festival de Arte Digital, Espaço Funarte
2006 | Emergence Gallery @ Duo Theatre, New York, Translations: Misguided Machines & Cultural Loops, Curated by Christiane Paul, Curator of New Media at the Whitney Museum of American Art
publications
2024 | A Mouth Holds Many Things: A De-Canon Hybrid Literary Collection, an anthology published by Fonograf Editions. Insomnia Poems series.
2022 | Bat City Review, March 2022, Issue No. 18. “Seagull.” Winner of the Editor’s Prize in Hybrid Work.
2021 | Tab Journal: The Journal of Poetry & Poetics, Volume 9, Issue 6. “Her Gaze.”
2021 | Scientific American, November 2021, Issue No. 5, Vol. 325. “The Way of Karma.”
2021 | Beloit Poetry Journal, Fall/Winter 2021 issue. “The Daughter’s Almanac.” Semi-finalist for the 2021 Adrienne Rich Award.
2021 | Connecticut Literary Anthology 2021. “Indigo Insomnia.”
2021 | POETRY Magazine, July/August 2021 issue. “Diaspora Nova” and “Solstice Blessing.”
2021 | Dogwood: A Journal of Poetry and Prose, Cover art for the Spring 2021 issue.
2021 | Permafrost Magazine, Issue No. 42.2. “Purple Forbidden Enclosure.” 2020 New Alchemy Contest Winner.
2020 | A Velvet Giant, Issue No. 5. “Amber Insomnia” and “Lavender Insomnia.”
2020 | Breakwater Review, Issue No. 28. “Shooting Stars.” Finalist for the 2020 Peseroff Prize.
2020 | Petrichor: A Journal of Text+Image. “Blood Moon Woman” with lines from Li Bai’s “Quiet Night Thought” translated by astrophysicist Charles Liu, PhD.
2020 | Tricycle: A Buddhist Review. “Yellow Insomnia,” audio recorded with Randall Horton.
2020 | Redivider, “Jupiter’s Family of Comets,” 2020 Blurred Genres Contest 2nd place winner.
2020 | ctrl+v, Issue No. 6 featuring “Her Hypothesis” and “Sun, Not Son.”
2019 | Spectral Lines: Poems about Scientists, anthology by Alternating Currents Press. “Woman’s Place in the Universe.”
2018 | Poesia Visual 5, anthology published by Oi Futuro. “The Vessel.”
2018 | Waxwing Literary Journal. “Syzygy,” “Woman’s Place in the Universe,” and “Feather.”
2017 | Asian American Literary Review, Asian American Tarot: A Mental Health Project. Visual design collaboration on “The Adoptee,” “The Ancestor,” “The Survivor,” “The Lecher,” “The Patient,” and “The Deportee.”
2015 | Silent Anatomies, published by Kore Press. Selected by Joy Harjo as winner of the 2014 First Book Award in poetry.
2015 | Hyperallergic. “The Glass Larynx” and “The Vessel.”
2014 | Seneca Review. “Lingua Profundae,” “The Attic,” and “Medica Visits the Witch Doctor.”
2013 | Loaded Bicycle, Issue 2.1. “Catching a Wave.”
2013 | Glassworks Magazine, Issue 6. “Innervation.”
2012 | Tidal Basin Review. “Bo Suerte,” “Perfect Baby Formula,” “Silent Treatment,” “The Onset,” “Oral Whitening Rinse,” “Whitening Solution,” “Love Potion No. 8.”
2012 | Drunken Boat, Issue 15. “Metal Lungs.”
2012 | The New Sound Interdisciplinary Journal of Literature and Art, Issue 1. “Elegy.”
2011 | Lantern Review, “Corona Mestiza.”
Collections
Amherst College – Special Collections (MA)
Arizona State University – Special Collections (AZ)
Baylor University – Moody Memorial Library (TX)
Binghamton University (SUNY) – Special Collections (NY)
Bowdoin College – George J. Mitchell Dept. of Special Collections (ME)
Brown University – John Hay Library (RI)
Clark Art Institute Library – Sterling Library (MA)
Colorado College – Tutt Library (CO)
Cornell University – Olin Library (NY)
Emory University – Rose Library (GA)
Franklin & Marshall College – Archives & Special Collections (PA)
George Mason University (VA)
Haverford College – Special Collections (PA)
History of Science Museum – University of Oxford (England)
Indiana University – Special Collections (IN)
James Madison University – Special Collections (VA)
Letterform Archive – Special Collections (CA)
Library of Congress – Rare Book and Special Collections (DC)
Linda Hall Library of Science, Engineering, & Technology (MO)
Maryland Institute College of Art – Decker Library (MD)
McGill University Library – Special Collections (Canada)
Middlebury College – Special Collections (VT)
National Museum of Women in the Arts – Library & Research Center (Washington DC)
Ohio State University – Special Collections (OH)
Poetry Foundation Library (IL)
Princeton University – Firestone Library Special Collections (NJ)
Rhode Island School of Design – Fleet Library (RI)
Smith College – Special Collections (MA)
Stanford University – Bowes Art & Architecture Library (CA)
Stanford University – Special Collections (CA)
School of the Art Institute of Chicago – Joan Flasch Artists’ Book Collection (IL)
Temple University – Charles Library, Special Collections Research Center (PA)
Tufts University | School of the Museum of Fine Arts – Clark Library (MA)
University of Arizona Poetry Center (AZ)
University at Buffalo Libraries (SUNY) – The Poetry Collection (NY)
University of California at Berkeley – Bancroft Library (CA)
University of California at Irvine – Science Library Special Collections (CA)
University of California at Santa Cruz – Special Collections (CA)
University of Chicago – Special Collections (IL)
University of Connecticut at Storrs – Special Collections (CT)
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign – Special Collections (IL)
University of Iowa – Special Collections (IA)
University of Miami – Special Collections (FL)
University of Nevada at Reno – Special Collections (NV)
University of South Carolina – Special Collections (SC)
University of Toronto – Special Collections (Canada)
University of Washington Libraries – Special Collections (WA)
University of Wisconsin-Madison – Kohler Art Library (WI)
University of Utah – Marriott Library (UT)
University of Virginia – Albert & Shirley Small Special Collections Library (VA)
Vanderbilt University – Jean and Alexander Hearts Libraries (TN)
Virginia Commonwealth University – James Branch Cabell Library Special Collections and Archives (VA)
Walker Art Center Library (MN)
Washington University at St. Louis – Modern Literature Collection (MO)
Wellesley College – Margaret Clapp Library (MA)
Wesleyan University – Special Collections & Archives (CT)
Yale University – Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library (CT)
Yale University – Robert B. Haas Family Arts Library (CT)
awards
2024 | United States Artists Fellowship
2023 | Barbara Deming Memorial Fund, Money for Women Grant, poetry award winner
2023 | Ragdale Foundation, Sylvia Clare Brown Fellowship
2022 | Marble House Project Gordon Eads & Jeanne Fee Feeney Residency Award established by Kimberly Eads & Kathryn Fee
2022 | Winner of the Bat City Review Editor’s Prize in Hybrid Work. “Seagull.”
2021 | Semi-finalist for the Adrienne Rich Award, Beloit Poetry Journal. “The Daughter’s Almanac.”
2021 | Sustainable Arts Foundation Grant, poetry
2021 | Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing, Voices of Color Fellowship, 2nd Place
2021 | Connecticut Office of the Arts, CT Artist Fellowship Award
2021 | Winner of the 2020 New Alchemy Contest, Permafrost Magazine. “Purple Forbidden Enclosure.”
2020 | Pushcart Nomination from A Velvet Giant. “Lavender Insomnia.”
2020 | Finalist for the Perseroff Prize Poetry Award, Breakwater Review. “Shooting Stars.”
2020 | 2nd Place winner of the Blurred Genres Poetry Award, Redivider. “Jupiter’s Family of Comets.”
2019 | MassMoCA & Assets for Artists, Matched Savings Grant
2018 | Connecticut Office of the Arts, Regional Initiative Grant
2017 | Fine Art Works Center, Full-tuition Scholarship
2016 | Millay Arts Residency, Roscoe Lee Browne Poet-in-Residence Award
2014 | Kore Press First Book Award in Poetry, Silent Anatomies selected by Joy Harjo