About
Mary Jean Chan is a poet and editor from Hong Kong. Her debut collection is forthcoming from Faber & Faber (July 2019).
Mary Jean's poetry has appeared in The 2018 Forward Book of Poetry, The Poetry Review, Poetry London, PN Review, Ambit Magazine, The White Review (forthcoming), Smoke Magazine (forthcoming), Ash Magazine (forthcoming), 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 anthologies including The Best New British and Irish Poetry 2018, Carcanet New Poetries VII, Wretched Strangers: Transnational Poetries and The Dizziness of Freedom: A Poetry Anthology on Mental Health. 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 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 and Callaloo, 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).
She 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' Poetry Competition and the 2016 Oxford Brookes International Poetry Competition (ESL). Mary Jean came Second in the 2017 National Poetry Competition, and placed Third in the 2016 Bare Fiction Prize for Poetry. She has been shortlisted for multiple awards, including the 2017 Forward Prize for Best Single Poem, the 2016 London Magazine Poetry Prize and the 2016 Resurgence Poetry Prize (Commended).
Mary Jean's debut pamphlet A Hurry of English is published by ignitionpress, and was recently selected as the 2018 Poetry Book Society Summer Pamphlet Choice. She lives in London, and is currently an editor of Oxford Poetry.
Poems
Online Publications
"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
11 Apr: ignitionpress Pamphlet Launch, University of St Andrews
12 Apr: ignitionpress Pamphlet Launch, Lighthouse Bookshop, Edinburgh
23 Apr: Celebration of Adrienne Rich with Poet in the City, Wilton's Music Hall, London
24 Apr: TOAST Poets with Joe Dunthorne and Remi Graves, The Harrison, 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
18 June: Reading at Bradfield College, Bradfield, Berkshire
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
4 Oct: National Poetry Day Live, Southbank Centre, London
13 Oct: Contemporary Chinese Poets at the Manchester Literature Festival, Manchester
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: An Evening with Sarah Howe, Hannah Lowe & Jennifer Wong, 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
