The first poetry book by novelist Larissa Lai (When Fox is a Thousand) is a multilayered âautobiographyâ that puts an ear to the white noise of advertising, pop music, CNN, and biotechnology, exploring the problem of what it means to exist on the boundaries of âhuman.â Lai, who teaches English at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, is prominent within the womenâs, LGBT, and Asian American communities.