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 in 2020 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, and is currently a finalist for the 2021 Lambda Literary Awards. Chan won the 2018 Geoffrey Dearmer Prize for her title poem "Flèche" and was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem in 2017 and 2019, receiving an Eric Gregory Award in 2019.
Chan was guest co-editor alongside Will Harris at The Poetry Review, and is a contributing editor at Oxford Poetry. She will be a Writer-in-Residence at the Nanyang Technological University School of Humanities in Singapore in 2022. Born and raised in Hong Kong, Chan is Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing (Poetry) at Oxford Brookes University and tutors on the MSt in Creative Writing at the University of Oxford.
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
Anthologies
Selected Publications
Prose
Selected Publications
The Guardian (2021)
The Stinging Fly (2020)
The Journal of British & Irish Innovative Poetry (2020)
The Guardian Review (2020)
The Guardian Review (2019)
The Journal of American Studies (2018)
The Guardian (2018)
Modern Poetry in Translation (2018)
The Hong Kong Review of Books (2018)
Wild Court (2017)
Events
Dates
*2021
*The following events will take place online
16 Feb: Literature, Film & Theatre Seminars, University of Essex
17 Feb: The Centre for Poetry & Poetics, University of Sheffield
18 Feb: Foyle Young Poets Showcase, Poetry Society, London
23 Feb: LGBTQ History Month, Putney High School, London
27 Feb: Mary Jean Chan & Karen Solie, Kendal Poetry Festival
5 Mar: Talk, The Cambridge Union, University of Cambridge
8 Mar: Reading, Homerton College, University of Cambridge
20 Mar: Reading, MSt Creative Writing, University of Oxford
8 Apr: Reading & Poetry Prize Ceremony, Swarthmore College
10 Apr: Festival of Poetry, A Celebration, Swarthmore College
15 Apr: Natalie Diaz with Mary Jean Chan, Manchester Lit Fest
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
21 May: Creative Industries Festival, Oxford Brookes University
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 and Swords, The York Festival of Ideas
19 June: Masterclass, Scottish BAME Writers Network
28 June: Moving House by Theophilus Kwek, Carcanet Press
2 July: Seamus Heaney Centre First Collection Awards Ceremony
5 July: Ledbury Poetry Festival: Cathy Park Hong and 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: The Poetry Book Society Virtual Book Club
24 Aug: The Edinburgh International Book Festival
19 Sept: The Hong Kong Shuffle Online Readings
1 Oct: National Poetry Day, Queen Anne's School
3 Oct: What We Read Now: An 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 and Interviews
January 2020
London, UK
August 2020
Edinburgh, UK
March 2021
Cambridge, UK
Press
Reviews, Features and Interviews
Radio and Podcasts
Eamonn M. McCormack / Getty Images
Contact
Publicity: Kate Burton
kate.burton@faber.co.uk
Agent: Emma Paterson
emma@aitkenalexander.co.uk
Twitter: @maryjean_chan