Replica
Format:Paperback
Publisher:University of Wisconsin Press
Publishing:31st May '26
£13.99
This title is due to be published on 31st May, and will be despatched as soon as possible.

Stand-up comedy, a celebrity non-apology, observations of racism, and the slipperiness of nostalgia underpin Replica. In poignant, witty poems, Lisa Low navigates the tensions of solidarity and hostility in white spaces as she sets out to write differently about race.
"The problem of being with a white man is also a problem of writing," Low says in a prose poem that turns writing about identity on its head. She peers in from outside the poem, as if through an open ceiling. The poem itself becomes a site of investigation—a counterpoint to constricting narratives about Asian American identity—reimagined as a dollhouse, a stage with props, an image the speaker wears like a bodysuit. Replica asks what it means to represent yourself and your experiences in a world where you are indistinguishable from others.
"Low's debut collection is one of reflection, interrogation, and clarity. . . . A surprising and tremendous work." - (Booklist (starred review))
"An electric debut. . . . With incredible wit, charm, and raw emotion, Low redefines the possibilities around thinking and writing about identity and the power of representing oneself in the world. . . . An utter delight from start to finish." - (Chicago Review of Books)
"Many writers of color can relate to the paranoia that comes with having to speak for an entire race. . . . Low's writing prompts us to wonder what else we might put our creative energies toward were we not made to explain our every move in order to render ourselves legible. . . . A book of reconciliations: between who society expects us to be and who we are; between what our love looks like to others and what it really is; between the need to justify our existence and letting our defiance speak for itself." - (Tone Madison)
"Low articulates layers of inside, outside, around and through with smart and sly lyrics. . . . An assemblage of sharp, subtle and self-aware lines, the poems of Replica hold intriguing rhythms; lines that thrust and parry, dodge; a lightness that neither denies nor refuses their weight. She explores form, yet manages to not be constrained by those forms, each new exploration an opening into further possibility." - Rob Mclennan
“The core questions of Replica—around power and proximity, interracial relationships and white guilt, and mental health—‘sing in the darkness’ in poems that quite literally take up space, that flood the whiteness of the page.” - Chet'la Sebree
“Replica is a lyrical reckoning. Low unravels complex layers of selfhood through hybrid prose poems, ars poeticas, and odes, and goes all in—rattling whiteness with necessary directness.” - Jane Wong
“A haunting study in self-portraiture. Low’s wry, winning humor mixes with her unsparing poignancy, bidding us to see each other, and ourselves, better.” - Philip Metres
ISBN: 9780299356545
Dimensions: 229mm x 152mm x 10mm
Weight: 172g
96 pages