About
Mary Jean Chan is the author of the poetry collection Flèche, published by Faber & Faber (2019) and Faber USA (2020). 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, the Seamus Heaney Centre First Collection Poetry Prize and a Lambda Literary Award. An Italian translation of Flèche by Giorgia Sensi was published by Interno Poesia in 2023.
Chan's second book, Bright Fear (Faber, 2023), is a Guardian Best Poetry Book of 2023 and was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Collection and the Writers' Prize (formerly the Folio Prize). Bright Fear is currently shortlisted for the 2024 Dylan Thomas Prize. Chan co-edited the anthology 100 Queer Poems (Vintage, 2022) with Andrew McMillan and recently served as a judge for the 2023 Booker Prize. Born and raised in Hong Kong, Chan is the 2023-24 Judith E. Wilson Poetry Fellow at the University of Cambridge and a judge for the 2024 Singapore Literature Prize.
Poetry
Shortlisted for the 2023 Forward Prize
for Best Collection, the 2024 Writers' Prize
& the 2024 International Dylan Thomas Prize
A Poetry Book Society Recommendation
Reviews
Thoughtful clear-sightedness abounds in Bright Fear...it is exhilarating to read a poet so sure of their intent. – The New Statesman
Reading Bright Fear is like testing the blade of a knife and finding it exquisitely sharp. – The Guardian
Written with a quiet intimacy, Mary Jean Chan's second collection hums by your ear with gentle, inviting and formally inventive poetry. – The Dylan Thomas Prize
Winner of the 2019 Costa Poetry Award
A Poetry Book Society Recommendation
Reviews
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
Extraordinary, brilliant and...beautifully governed by formal rigour and literary excellence. – The Poetry Review
As governing metaphor and organising principle...the sport [of fencing] provides enlivening strategies for the poetic realisation of loss and rebellion. – The Guardian
Prose
Selected Publications
Review of English Studies (2022)
Guardian Review (2022)
Guardian Books (2021)
Journal of British & Irish Innovative Poetry (2020)
Guardian Books (2019)
Journal of American Studies (2018)
Events
2024
20 Jan: Reading with Victoria Adukwei Bulley & Momtaza Mehri, Blackwell's, Oxford
31 Jan: Reading, Bright Fear by Mary Jean Chan, Murray Edwards College, Cambridge
8 Feb: Reading with Isobel Dixon, Shehzar Doja & others, The Glasgow Network of Poets
24 Feb: Reading, Bright Fear by Mary Jean Chan, Magdalene Poetry Society, Cambridge
29 Feb: Reading, Bright Fear by Mary Jean Chan with Enora Lessinger, Daunt, Oxford
1 Mar: Judge, The Avril Gilchrist Bruten Award for Creative Writing, St Hugh's, Oxford
3 Mar: Speaker, On Wilderness and the Poetic Imagination, Wadham Chapel, Oxford
7-9 Mar: Speaker, International Poetry Symposium, Chinese University of Hong Kong
18 Mar: Interviewer, In Conversation with Diarmuid Hester, The Cambridge Festival
23 Mar: Reading, Poets and Players, The Anthony Burgess Foundation, Manchester
24 Mar: Reading, Bright Fear by Mary Jean Chan, MSt in Creative Writing, Oxford
28 Mar: Reading, Out-Spoken Poetry Live March Edition, Southbank Centre, London
4 Apr: Speaker, Mary Jean Chan & Phoebe Wang, The University of Orleans, France
11 Apr: Jay Bernard, Mary Jean Chan, Will Harris & Nisha Ramayya, LRB Bookshop
2 May: Reading with Carrie Etter, Julia Copus & Inua Ellams, Burley Fisher, London
9 May: Reading, Mary Jean Chan & Charlotte Shevchenko Knight, Coronet Theatre
14 May: Reading & workshop, Pelican Poets & Writers, Corpus Christi, Cambridge
15 May: Reading, The Dylan Thomas Prize shortlist, Waterstones Piccadilly, London
23 May: Reading with Sean Hewitt & Harry Josephine Giles, 2024 Lit Fest Dublin
2023
19 Feb: Moderator, 100 Queer Poems panel, The Verve Poetry Festival, Birmingham
24 Feb: Reading & Discussion, English & Comparative Literary Studies, Warwick
1 Mar: Reading, After Sylvia: Poets on Plath, The National Poetry Library, London
9 Mar: Reading, Mary Jean Chan, Keith Jarrett & Faryal Velmi, Reading University
11 Mar: Reading, Poets of Chinese Heritage, 2023 AWP conference, Seattle, US
14 Apr: Reading, Mary Jean Chan with Giorgia Sensi, Ritratti di Poesia, Rome, Italy
12 May: Reading with Kim Moore & Clare Shaw, The 2023 Newcastle Poetry Festival
22 May: Reading with Michael Symmons Roberts, Harris Manchester College, Oxford
11 July: Reading, Contemporary Queer Literature in Britain, Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford
28 July: Launch, Bright Fear by Mary Jean Chan with Andrew McMillan, LRB Bookshop
31 Aug: Reading by Mary Jean Chan, Asia Creative Writing Programme, Singapore
18 Sept: Reading, Bright Fear by Mary Jean Chan, Topping & Co. Bookshop, Bath
21 Sept: Judge, Booker Prize shortlist event, The National Portrait Gallery, London
15 Oct: Reading with Jen Campbell & Kit Fan, The Durham Book Festival, Durham
16 Oct: Reading, The Forward Prizes for Poetry awards ceremony, Leeds Playhouse
21 Oct: Reading with Fiona Benson & Stephen Sexton, Seamus Heaney HomePlace
24 Oct: Reading with Mona Arshi & Bhanu Kapil, Pembroke College, Cambridge
28 Oct: Reading, Bright Fear by Mary Jean Chan, The Wantage Literary Festival
30 Oct: Reading with Patrick James Errington & Fahad Al-Amoudi, Oxford Brookes
7 Nov: Reading, Bright Fear by Mary Jean Chan, Topping & Co. Bookshop, Edinburgh
20 Nov: Reading with Rachael Allen, Ishion Hutchinson & Daljit Nagra, The Bindery
26 Nov: Judge, The 2023 Booker Prize winner ceremony, Old Billingsgate, London
5 Dec: Talk, The Booker Prize: Mary Jean Chan with Enora Lessinger, Oxford Brookes
2022
18 Jan: Reading, Dún Laoghaire Lexicon Library & Cultural Centre
3 Feb: Reading, English and Creative Writing, Lancaster University
21 Mar: Reading, Poetry As/And Criticism, Maynooth University
26 Mar: Reading and Q&A, The MSt in Creative Writing, Oxford
5 Apr: Reading, The 2022 Think Human Festival, Oxford Brookes
12 Apr: Moderator, Diana Bellessi with Leo Boix, Oxford Brookes
21 Apr: Reading, Sylvia Legris & Mary Jean Chan, Granta Books
17 May: Reading, Kayo Chingonyi & Mary Jean Chan, Birkbeck
19 May: Reading, Theo Kwek & Mary Jean Chan, Kellogg College
26 May: Judge, Jhalak Prize Awards Ceremony, The British Library
4 June: Reading, Pride Month Panel, Blackwell's Bookshop, Oxford
9 June: Reading, Oxford Review of Books June Issue Launch, Oxford
11 June: Reading, 2022 Poetry Showcase, The Welshpool Poetry Festival
12 Aug: Reading, Four Poets: "We'll Tell You Everything", Sing Lit Station
21 Aug: Reading, The Asia Creative Writing Programme Poetry Showcase
22 Sept: Reading, East Side Voices, Daunt Books, Summertown, Oxford
27 Sept: Moderator, 100 Queer Poems Panel, Topping & Company, Bath
4 Oct: Reading, Abingdon Literary Society, Abingdon School, Abingdon
8 Oct: Reading, 100 Queer Poems Panel, Coast is Queer Literature Festival
19 Oct: Judge, The Wasafiri New Writing Prize Awards Ceremony, London
8 Nov: The Books Are My Bag Readers Awards, Foyles Bookshop, London
11 Nov: Moderator, 100 Queer Poems Panel, Oxford Brookes Poetry Centre
19 Nov: Reading, The Oxford University Poetry Society, Worcester College
Media
Readings and Interviews
January 2020
Faber & Faber, London
February 2023
The National Centre for Writing, Norwich
Press
Contact