• Photo credit: Ray Burmiston

    About

    Mary Jean Chan is the author of the poetry collection Flèche, published by Faber & Faber (2019). Flèche won the 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 2023 Forward Prize for Best Collection and the 2024 Writers' Prize. Chan co-edited the anthology 100 Queer Poems (Vintage, 2022) with Andrew McMillan and 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

    broken image

    Shortlisted for the 2023 Forward Prize

    for Best Collection and the 2024 Writers' Prize

     

    Longlisted for the 2024 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

     

    In understated, lucid writing, Chan illuminates the small moments in one's life...that come to form a whole self. –​ The Asian Review of Books

    broken image

    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 searingly honest...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

  • 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

    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

  • Contact

    Agent: Emma Paterson

    emma@aitkenalexander.co.uk

     

    Publicity: Tara McEvoy

    tara.mcevoy@faber.co.uk