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Mary Jean Chan

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  • About
  • The Book
  • Poems
  • Anthologies
  • Prose
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    • About

       

      Mary Jean Chan is the author of Flèche, published by Faber & Faber (2019). Flèche won the 2019 Costa Book Award for Poetry and was shortlisted for the International Dylan Thomas Prize, the John Pollard Foundation International Poetry Prize, the Jhalak Prize and the Seamus Heaney Centre First Collection Poetry Prize. Chan's poetry has featured in or is forthcoming from The Guardian, The New Statesman, The New Republic, The White Review and The Poetry Review.

       

      Chan won the 2018 Geoffrey Dearmer Prize and was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem twice, receiving an Eric Gregory Award in 2019. In Spring 2020, Chan was guest co-editor alongside Will Harris at The Poetry Review. She is currently a contributing editor at Oxford Poetry and has been appointed as a Writer-in-Residence at the Nanyang Technological University School of Humanities in Singapore. Born and raised in Hong Kong, Chan is Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing (Poetry) at Oxford Brookes University and lives in London.

    • Winner of the Costa book Award for Poetry

      A Poetry Book Society Recommendation

       

      Reviews

       

      [An] extraordinary, brilliant and searingly honest collection...beautifully governed by formal rigour and literary excellence. – The Poetry Review

       

      [Chan] is one of those rare poets who leave you looking up with a sense that you can engage even the smallest part of the world around you with a much greater intensity. –​ PN Review

       

      Chan has picked a perfect title, one that is as expansive and evocative as the poems that it encompasses. –​ The Hong Kong Review of Books

       

      As [a] governing metaphor and organising principle...the sport [of fencing] provides enlivening strategies for the poetic realisation of loss and rebellion. –​ The Guardian

    • New Poems

      Selected Publications

       

      New Statesman: The NS Poem

      Five Dials: Hamish Hamilton

      Academy of American Poets

    • Anthologies

      Selected Publications

      The Forward Book of Poetry 2018

      Faber & Faber (2017)

      Carcanet New Poetries VII

      Carcanet Press (2018)

      Wretched Strangers 

      Boiler House Press (2018)

      The Dizziness of Freedom

      Bad Betty Press (2018)

      She is Fierce: Brave, Bold and Beautiful Poems By Women

      Pan Macmillan (2018)

      Armistice: A Laureate's Choice of Poems

      of War and Peace

      Faber & Faber (2018)

      The Valley Press Anthology of Prose Poetry

      Valley Press (2019)

      Set Me On Fire: A Poem for Every Feeling

      Doubleday (2019)

      Islands Are But Mountains: New Poetry from the United Kingdom

      Platypus Press (2019)

      Tell Me the Truth About Life: A National Poetry Day Anthology

      Michael O'Mara Books (2019)

      The Forward Book of Poetry 2020

      Faber & Faber (2019)

      She Will Soar: Bright, Brave Poems

      About Escape and Freedom By Women

      Pan Macmillan (2020)

      Staying Human:

      New Poems for Staying Alive

      Bloodaxe Books (2020)

      Border Lines: Poems of Migration

      Penguin Random House (2020)

      Liberty Faber Poetry Diary 2021

      Faber & Faber (2020)

      Empty Nest: Poems for Families

      Picador Books (2021)

    • Prose

      Selected Publications

      Review of Claudia Rankine's

      Just Us: An American Conversation

      The Stinging Fly (2020)

      Journeying is Hard: Difficulty, Race and

      Poetics in Sarah Howe’s Loop of Jade

      Journal of British & Irish Innovative Poetry (2020)

      World Poetry Day: Poetry can be the bridge

      that connects us during these difficult times

      Guardian Review (2020)

      The Best Recent Poetry:

      Review Roundup

      Guardian Review (2019)

      Towards a Poetics of Racial Trauma: Lyric

      Hybridity in Claudia Rankine's Citizen

      Journal of American Studies (2018)

      Review of Jericho Brown's

      The New Testament

      Guardian Books (2018)

      Review of Ishion Hutchinson's

      House of Lords and Commons

      Hong Kong Review of Books (2018)

      Meeting Point: A Chinese

      Poet Writing in English

      Wild Court (2017)

    • Events

      Dates

      *2021

       

      *The following events will take place online

       

      16 Feb: Literature, Film and Theatre Seminars, University of Essex

      17 Feb: The Centre for Poetry and Poetics, University of Sheffield

      18 Feb: Foyle Young Poets Reading, The Poetry Society, London

      23 Feb: LGBTQ+ History Month, Putney High School, London

      27 Feb: Mary Jean Chan and Karen Solie, Kendal Poetry Festival

      5 Mar: The Cambridge Union, University of Cambridge

      8 Mar: Homerton College, University of Cambridge

      20 Mar: The MSt in Creative Writing, University of Oxford

      25 Mar: The National Poetry Competition Awards Ceremony

      16 Apr: Desert Island Poems, The Seren Cardiff Poetry Festival

      29 Apr: Oxplore Book Club Live (Poetry), University of Oxford

      5 May: The Herbert Society, Jesus College, University of Oxford

       

      2020

       

      28 Jan: The Costa Book Awards Ceremony, Quaglino's, London

      10 Feb: The Think Human Festival, Oxford Brookes University

      22 Feb: The Verve Poetry Festival, Birmingham Hippodrome

      9 Mar: Letters Home by Jennifer Wong, Poetry Cafe, London

      8 May: Q&A with Kenny Leck, BooksActually, Singapore

      14 May: International Dylan Thomas Awards Ceremony

      15 May: Jhalak Prize, The Author's Club Online Lit Fest

      29 May: Books Are Magic Readings, New York, USA

      7 June: Words & Swords, The York Festival of Ideas

      19 June: Masterclass, Scottish BAME Writers Network

      28 June: Moving House by Theo Kwek, Carcanet Press

      2 July: Seamus Heaney Centre First Collection Awards Ceremony

      5 July: Ledbury Poetry Festival with Cathy Park Hong & Will Harris

      9 July: UCL Take Flight Hub, Sustaining Your Career as a Poet

      14 July: The National Literacy Trust Readings, Instagram Live

      16 July: HSS Research Series, Oxford Brookes University

      29 July: Queer Poetry Writing Week, Arvon at Home

      5 Aug: Poetry Book Society Virtual Book Club

      24 Aug: Edinburgh International Book Festival

      19 Sept: The Hong Kong Shuffle

      1 Oct: Queen Anne's School, Reading

      3 Oct: What We Read Now Online Poetry Series

      11 Oct: Rainbow Writes (funded by FRIDA), Malaysia

      7 Nov: Spoke and Bird, A Poetry Open Mic, Singapore

      11 Nov: Literary Society, St Paul's Girls' School, London

      15 Nov: The Hong Kong International Literary Festival

      20 Nov: Queer Reads Library (Bilingual), Hong Kong

      28 Nov: Ó Bhéal Winter Warmer Poetry Festival, Cork

    • Media

      Readings & Interviews

      January 2020

      London, UK

      August 2020

      Edinburgh, UK

    • Press

      Reviews, Features & Interviews

       

      Hong Kong Review of Books

      South China Morning Post

      Asian Review of Books

      Poetry International

      Adrian Brinkerhoff

      Oxford University

      DIVA Magazine

      Forward Prizes

      NB Magazine

      Poetry Society

      Lucy Writers

      Waterstones

       

      Radio & Podcasts

       

      BBC Radio 4: Short Cuts

      BBC Radio 4: Front Row

      London Review Bookshop

      The Dylan Thomas Prize

      The Planet Poetry Podcast

      The Faber Poetry Podcast

      Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images

    • Contact

      Publicity: Kate Burton 

      kate.burton@faber.co.uk

       

      Agent: Emma Paterson

      emma@aitkenalexander.co.uk

       

      Twitter: @maryjean_chan

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