Poet discusses human nature through "robot love"
- NYS Writers Institute
- Jan 29
- 2 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
Margaret Rhee to visit the University at Albany to discuss her writing on the connection between robots and humans.
By Lily Magurno, NYS Writers Institute intern
Thursday, January 29
Award-winning poet Margaret Rhee will visit the University at Albany in discussion of her 2017 poetry collection Love, Robot on Thursday, February 5. Rhee’s debut collection has received several accolades including the 2019 Best Book Award in Poetry by the Asian American Studies Association and the 2017 Best Book in Poetry by Entropy Magazine.
Rhee’s collection features poems about the human connection to technology in the form of a human-robot love affair. While noted for her debut collection, Rhee is also the author of a poetry chapbook entitled Radio Heart: Or, How Robots Fall Out of Love, published in 2015.
Love, Robot has received praise for the poem’s reflection of human life and connection, including from Pulitzer Prize-winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen.
“In a paradoxical and wonderful way, Margaret Rhee's robot love affairs make us rethink what it might mean to be human,” said Nguyen.
Rhee’s work in poetry surrounding human and robot connection has expanded since the publication of Love, Robot. As the chair of Arts Writing at The New School, Rhee is continuing her work and study and technology with the completion of two books, titled Machine Dreams: Race, Robots, and the Asian American Body and Poetry Machines
The talk with Rhee will take place in UAlbany’s Multi-Purpose room in Campus Center at 4:30 p.m. Copies of Rhee’s poetry collection will be available for purchase along with a book signing by the author.
4:30 p.m. Thursday, February 5, 2026
Conversation Q/A moderated by Sarah Giragosian, Professor of Writing and Critical Inquiry and English
University at Albany
Multi-Purpose Room
Campus Center West Addition
1400 Washington Avenue
Albany NY 12222
Free and open to the public.
Books will be available for sale.
A signing will follow the conversation.