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 collection Bright Fear (Faber, 2023) is a Poetry Book Society Recommendation and was shortlisted for the 2023 Forward Prize for Best Collection. Chan edited the acclaimed 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.
Winner of the Costa Poetry Award
A Poetry Book Society Recommendation
Reviews
Extraordinary, brilliant and searingly honest...beautifully governed by formal rigour and literary excellence. – The Poetry Review
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
As governing metaphor and organising principle...the sport [of fencing] provides enlivening strategies for the poetic realisation of loss and rebellion. – The Guardian
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
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
19 Feb: Moderator, 100 Queer Poems panel, The Verve Poetry Festival, Birmingham
21 Feb: Reading, Meet the World poetry panel, National Centre for Writing, UEA
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
2 Dec: Reading with Victoria Adukwei Bulley & Momtaza Mehri, Blackwell's, Oxford
5 Dec: Talk, The Booker Prize: Mary Jean Chan with Enora Lessinger, Oxford Brookes
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, Poetry Showcase, The Welshpool Poetry Festival
12 Aug: Reading, "We'll Tell You Everything" Panel, Sing Lit Station