With plans to minor in philosophy and Spanish, the scholar’s goal for his time at Carolina is to grow as a writer and develop his artistic purpose. (Photo by Donn Young)
First-year student Radian Hong graduated high school with an array of accolades: a finished novel, countless literary prizes and several works published in a variety of journals.
Shockingly, despite his accomplishments, the Sacramento, California, native has never taken a formal creative writing class. They were simply not offered at his high school.
The “self-taught” poet is this year’s winner of the prestigious Thomas Wolfe Scholarship. The scholarship, awarded by the department of English and comparative literature, offers full four-year financial support to a first-year student interested in creative writing.
Growing up, the English and comparative literature major always wanted to be a writer and saw himself in careers that allowed him to create such as a computer programmer or a composer.
But he was hesitant. It’s hard to make a living as a writer, and Hong didn’t feel comfortable investing in a degree that might not support him financially.
The scholarship was the “green light” he needed to pursue his dream.
As a child, Hong was glued to his Kindle and became obsessed with the Harry Potter book series and escaping to alternate realities. In high school, he stumbled into short stories in publications like The New Yorker.
“I was blown away by the writers that were living today,” he said. “They were writing things that were better than the classics, because they’re speaking to the present. We are their audience.”
He thought that if contemporaries were pursuing writing in this age, so could he.
So, starting in middle school, he got to work writing each day after school. He began with poetry, then worked his way up to short stories, and then a novel, crafting up to 2,000 words a day.
He described his first attempts at writing like sudoku, tossing syllables into the lines so they could fit.
Eventually, it got easier, and his approach adapted. He said the experience taught him that consistency is the key to growth.
Hong considers poetry to be his specialty genre and appreciates that contemporary literature allows him to explore topics that were not socially acceptable in the past, such as intergenerational trauma, systems of power and history.
“The most important part of poetry is to show what we accept as normal, show the contradictions in our everyday life — not to make everything beautiful, because everything is not,” said Hong.
When asked about his favorite piece of work, Hong says he tends to fall in love with the most recent poem he’s written.
With minors in philosophy and Spanish, the scholar’s goal for his time at Carolina is not to just grow as a writer, but to develop his artistic purpose.
He is thrilled to be a part of an “amazing” creative writing program, and to work with “beyond-talented” English professors such as Daniel Wallace, Stephanie Elizondo Griest and Gabrielle Calvocoressi.
“I have so much to learn from them,” he said. “I can’t wait.”
Story originally published by Sophia Melin, College of Arts and Sciences
Note: The Thomas Wolfe Scholarship was generously endowed by Frank B. Hanes Sr. in 2001 to recruit the best and most creative undergraduates to Chapel Hill.
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