About
Mary Jean Chan is a poet and editor from Hong Kong who currently lives in London. Her debut collection is forthcoming from Faber & Faber (2019).
Her work has appeared in anthologies and literary journals such as The 2018 Forward Book of Poetry, Carcanet New Poetries VII, The Best New British and Irish Poetry 2018, The Poetry Review, Poetry London, PN Review, Ambit Magazine, The Rialto, The London Magazine, Oxford Poetry, Callaloo Journal, The Asian American Writers' Workshop, Magma, The Scores, Tongue and English: Journal of the English Association, and is forthcoming from The White Review, Mascara Literary Review and anthologies such as Wretched Strangers: Transnational Poetries (Boiler House Press), The Dizziness of Freedom: A Poetry Anthology on Mental Health (Bad Betty Press), Lunar Poetry Podcast: An Anthology (Verve Poetry Press) and Armistice: A Laureate's Choice of Poems of War and Peace (Faber & Faber). A Ledbury Emerging Poetry Critic, Mary Jean's reviews are published in or forthcoming from The Poetry Review, Poetry London, PN Review, The Poetry School and the Hong Kong Review of Books.
A recent graduate of Swarthmore College, the University of Oxford and Royal Holloway, Mary Jean served as Vice-President of the Oxford University Poetry Society (2014-2015). She received the 2015 University of London MA Creative Writing Prize, along with fellowships from VONA, Callaloo and TOAST, and is currently a PhD candidate in Creative Writing (Poetry) and Research Associate at Royal Holloway, University of London. Her article on Claudia Rankine’s Citizen: An American Lyric was published in The Journal of American Studies (2018).
Mary Jean is the winner of the 2017 Anne Born Prize, the 2017 Postcolonial Studies Association/Journal of Postcolonial Writing Postgraduate Essay Prize, the 2017 Psychoanalysis and Poetry Competition, the 2017 Poetry Society Members' Competition and the 2016 Oxford Brookes International Poetry Competition (ESL). She came Second in the 2017 National Poetry Competition, and placed Third in the 2016 Bare Fiction Prize for Poetry. Mary Jean was shortlisted for the 2017 Forward Prize for Best Single Poem, the 2016 London Magazine Poetry Prize and the 2016 Resurgence Poetry Prize (Commended).
Her debut pamphlet A Hurry of English is published by ignitionpress, and was selected as the 2018 Poetry Book Society Summer Pamphlet Choice. Mary Jean is an editor at Oxford Poetry.
PAMPhlet & Poems
Selected Publications
Poetry Book Society 2018 Summer Pamphlet Choice:
ignitionpress
what my mother (a poet) might say
The Poetry Review
The Oxford Brookes International Poetry Competition, Winner (ESL), 2016
The London Magazine
Bare Fiction Magazine
Weekly Poem, Oxford Brookes Poetry Centre
Articles & Essays
Selected Publications
The Journal of American Studies (2018)
Wild Court, the English Department of
King's College London (2017)
Callaloo: A Journal of African Diaspora
Arts and Letters (2016)
TeD tALK
Appearances
Dates
2018
24 Jan: The Ledbury Emerging Poetry Critics, University of Birmingham
8 Feb: Poetry London: Spring 2018 Readings, Kings Place, London
15 Feb: Waterstones (Tottenham Court Road) with the Lodestone Poets, London
22 Feb: International Mother Languages Day, Anthony Burgess Foundation, Manchester
27 Feb: Race and Equality: An Evening of Poetry and Film, King's College London
7 Mar: ignitionpress Pamphlet Launch, The Poetry Cafe, London
8 Mar: ignitionpress Pamphlet Launch, Society Cafe, Oxford
25 Mar: ignitionpress Pamphlet Launch, The Oxford Literary Festival, Oxford
12 Apr: ignitionpress Pamphlet Launch, Lighthouse Bookshop, Edinburgh
23 Apr: Celebration of Adrienne Rich with Poet in the City, Wilton's Music Hall, London
30 Apr: Carcanet New Poetries VII Launch, The London Review Bookshop, London
4 May: Carcanet New Poetries VII Launch, The Old Library, All Souls College, Oxford
28 May: Reading with Amy Key, Claudine Toutoungi & Eleni Cay, the Troubadour, London
30 May: Reading with Will Harris, Theo Kwek & Jennifer Tsai, 11 Bedford Square, London
31 May: Reading at the Students' UN Human Rights Symposium, The American School in London
5 June: Out-Spoken Live at the 100 Club, 100 Oxford Street, London
8 June: The Forward Prizes at the Second Home Literary Festival, Holland Park, London
18 June: Reading at Bradfield College, Bradfield, Berkshire
20 June: Rogers, Coleridge & White Literary Salon, 20 Powis Mews, London
30 June: Poetry and Psychoanalysis Conference, The Institute of Psychoanalysis, London
5-8 July: The Ledbury Poetry Festival, Ledbury
25 July: The Poetry Book Society Summer Showcase, Southbank Centre, London
3 Oct: Launch of The Dizziness of Freedom: An Anthology on Mental Health, Waterstones, Birmingham
4 Oct: National Poetry Day Live, Southbank Centre, London
13 Oct: Contemporary Chinese Poets at the Manchester Literature Festival, Manchester
3 Nov: Queer Studio with Richard Scott, Poetry in Aldeburgh, Suffolk
10 Nov: The Woodstock Poetry Festival, Oxford
2017
Dec: Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool
Nov: Hong Kong International Literary Festival, HK
Oct: Oxford Poetry Library Fundraiser, Oxford
Oct: Poets and Publishers, Poetry Swindon Festival, Swindon
Sept: The 2017 Forward Prizes for Poetry, Royal Festival Hall, London
July: Transatlantic Poetry, a global, live-streamed event
July: Poem-a-Thon, The Poetry Cafe, London
July: English Association Literary Salon with Helen Mort, Newcastle
July: English Shared Futures Conference, Newcastle Civic Center, Newcastle
June: Poetry and Psychoanalysis Conference, Institute of Psychoanalysis, London
May: Poetry Across the Atlantic Since 2000 Conference, the University of Oxford
May: Free Verse: The Poetry Magazine Fair, The Betsey Trotwood, London
May: Creating China: Writing Across Genres, China Exchange, London
Apr: The Poetry Review Spring Issue Launch, House of Illustration Gallery, London
Apr: Bare Fiction Magazine Launch, Waterstones, Birmingham
Mar: Poetics of Home Conference, The Institute of English Studies, London
Feb: Sarah Howe, Hannah Lowe & Jennifer Wong at Goodenough College, London
Jan: Keats Celebration on the Eve of St. Agnes, Guildhall Art Gallery, London
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Photo: Best Single Poem Shortlist
© Forward Prizes 2017
Contact
Twitter: @maryjean_chan
Agent: Emma Paterson
