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    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.

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    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

  • Events

    2023

     

    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

     

     

    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, Poetry Showcase, The Welshpool Poetry Festival

    12 Aug: Reading, "We'll Tell You Everything" Panel, Sing Lit Station