![A portrait of a queer Chinese American standing in front of a large beige apartment building with many windows and balconies. His hair is dyed an orangey-blonde. He wears clear-framed glasses, a dark purple button-down with gray polka dot pattern, and a gray blazer. His facial expression is gently joyful.](https://usa-p-36588810407f.b-cdn.net/1a874708-36ef-42f8-8ac9-7520853f337b/chen-chen-3.jpg?crop=500%2C500%2C0%2C0&width=500)
Photo by Paula Champagne.
“I continue to be surprised by how poems can come from anywhere and, in particular, from conversation. I used to believe writing was a completely solitary act, that it had to be, if it was going to be “true” or “pure” art. Now I believe in friendship and community as vital, as deeply essential to my creative practice and life. I can’t write without talking to and dreaming alongside other writers.”
Chen Chen’s second book of poetry, Your Emergency Contact Has Experienced an Emergency, is forthcoming from BOA Editions (US) and Bloodaxe Books (UK) in September 2022. Chen’s debut, When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities (BOA, 2017; Bloodaxe, 2019), was long-listed for the National Book Award and won the Thom Gunn Award, among other honors. Chen has also written four chapbooks, and his first essay collection, In Cahoots with the Rabbit God, is forthcoming from Noemi Press in late 2023.
His work appears in many publications, including Poetry and three editions of The Best American Poetry. He has received two Pushcart Prizes and fellowships from Kundiman and the National Endowment for the Arts. He holds an MFA from Syracuse University and a PhD from Texas Tech University.
With a brilliant team, he edits the journal Underblong. He also edits the lickety~split, a Twitter-based journal celebrating short poems. He teaches at Brandeis University as the Jacob Ziskind Poet in Residence and serves on the poetry faculty for the low-residency MFA programs at New England College and Stonecoast.
Chen lives in Waltham, Massachusetts with his partner, Jeff Gilbert, and their pug dog, Mr. Rupert Giles.
Donor -This award was generously supported by the Barr Foundation.
This artist page was last updated on: 07.17.2024