Chen Chen

Jacob Ziskind Poet-in-Residence

Departments/Programs

English

Degrees

Syracuse University, M.F.A.
Hampshire College, B.A.

Expertise

Creative writing; contemporary American poetry and creative nonfiction; Asian American and LGBTQ writers.

Profile

Chen Chen is a poet and essayist interested in Asian American histories and futures, family (both biological and found), queer friendship, multilingualism, hybrid texts, humor, and pop culture.

Courses Taught

ENG	19a	Introduction to Creative Writing Workshop
ENG	109a	Poetry Workshop
ENG	119b	Poetry Workshop: Special Topics in Poetry
ENG	129a	Creative Nonfiction Workshop

Awards and Honors

Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowships - Finalist (2020)

UK Forward Prizes, Best Single Poem - Highly Commended (2020)

National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Literature (Creative Writing) (2019 - 2021)

Pushcart Prize (2019)

Great Lakes Colleges Association (GLCA) New Writers Award (2018)

The Publishing Triangle's Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry (2018)

Writers’ League of Texas Book Award for Poetry (2018)

Scholarship

Chen, Chen. "The School of Eternities". 2021. The Best American Poetry 2021, New York, NY. (Poetry (Reprint)). (forthcoming)

Chen, Chen. "The School of a Few or a Lot of My Favorite Things". 2021. Lantern Review, (Poetry). (forthcoming)

Chen, Chen. “The School of Your Book / Letter to Jennifer S. Cheng,” “Fundamental Earthly Activities,” “Winter". 2021. Cape Cod Poetry Review, (Poetry). (forthcoming)

Chen, Chen. “i love you to the moon &". 2021. The Academy of American Poets Poem-a-Day, (Poetry). (forthcoming)

Chen, Chen. “The School of the Unschoolable,” “Summer.”. 2021. POETRY Magazine, Chicago, IL. (Poetry).

Chen, Chen. "On Becoming a Pop Star, I Mean, a Poet". 2020. Poets & Writers - Craft Capsules, (Craft/personal essay).

Chen, Chen. "On Nightmares". 2020. Poets & Writers - Craft Capsules, (Craft/personal essay).

Chen, Chen. "The School of Eternities". 2020. Ploughshares, Boston, MA. (Poetry).

Chen, Chen. "Year's End". 2020. The Forward Book of Poetry 2021 (Faber & Faber, UK), (Poetry (Reprint)).

Chen, Chen. Section 6 from "holiday". 2020. Orion Magazine, Great Barrington, MA. (Poetry).

Chen, Chen. Sections 1-5 from "holiday". 2020. The Cortland Review, Cortland, NY. (Poetry).

Chen, Chen. “A Queer Translates Rilke,” “Self-Portrait as a Wild Extrovert,” “Every Poem is My Most Asian Poem,” “My boyfriend & I have a crush,” “A Queer Translates Himself.”. 2020. Hobart, (Poetry).

Chen, Chen. “Against Universality, in Praise of Anger". 2020. Poets & Writers - Craft Capsules, (Craft/personal essay).

Chen, Chen. “I Invite My Parents to a Dinner Party”. 2020. The Slowdown, (Poetry).

Chen, Chen. “Spring Summer Autumn Winter”. 2020. The Poetry Review, London, UK. (Poetry).

Chen, Chen. “The Poems That Poets Turn to in a Time of Strife". 2020. The New York Times, New York, NY. (Contribution to article).

Chen, Chen. “Zombie Kindnesses”. 2020. The Map of Every Lilac Leaf: Poets Respond to the Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, MA. (Poetry).

Chen, Chen. “[I have a pinned note in my notes app…]”. 2020. Stay Home Diary (Bitter Melon Press), (Essay).

Chen, Chen. “a small book of questions: chapter x,” “ode to my beloveds & brevities”. 2020. The Familiar Wild: On Dogs and Poetry (Sundress Publications), Knoxville, TN. (Poetry).

Chen, Chen and Wein, Sam. GESUNDHEIT!. 1st ed. Toledo, OH: Glass Poetry Press, 2019.

Chen, Chen and Wein, Sam. “Hibiscus Knowledge”. 2019. Verse of April, (Poetry).

Chen, Chen. "A Favorite Room". 2019. Wildness – Omnibus Edition, UK. (Poetry).

Chen, Chen. "Self-Portrait With & Without”. 2019. Spellbound: The Art of Teaching Poetry, New York, NY. (Poetry).

Chen, Chen. "Year's End". 2019. Bath Magg, (Poetry).

Chen, Chen. "four short essays personifying a future in which white supremacy has ended". 2019. Pushcart Prize XLIV: Best of the Small Presses, New York, NY. (Poetry).

Chen, Chen. When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities (UK edition). Hexham, UK: Bloodaxe Books, 2019.

Chen, Chen. You MUST Use the Word Smoothie: A Craft Essay in 50 Writing Prompts. Knoxville, Tennessee: Sundress Publications, 2019.

Chen, Chen. “First Light”. 2019. Ink Knows No Borders: Poems of the Immigrant and Refugee Experience, (Poetry).

Chen, Chen. “I Invite My Parents to a Dinner Party”. 2019. The Best American Poetry 2019, New York, NY. (Poetry).

Chen, Chen. “Origin Story,” “Study Abroad”. 2019. No Tender Fences: An Anthology of Immigrant & First-Generation American Poetry, (Poetry).

Chen, Chen. “The School of Logic,” “The School of Morning & Letters". 2019. What Saves Us: Poems of Empathy and Outrage in the Age of Trump, Evanston, IL. (Poetry).

Chen, Chen. “When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities”. 2019. Teach This Poem (Academy of American Poets), (Poetry).

Chen, Chen. ""A Tired Sadness, a Fresh Rage”." McSweeney's.

Chen, Chen. ""I’m Not Here to Play the Suffering Minority for White Readers.”." Electric Literature.

Chen, Chen. "Autumn". 2018. The Massachusetts Review, (Poetry).

Chen, Chen. "Origin Story". 2018. Oxford Poetry, (Poetry).

Chen, Chen. "Set the Garden on Fire". 2018. Ghost Fishing: An Eco-Justice Poetry Anthology, (Poetry).

Chen, Chen. "Sorrow Song with Optimus Prime". 2018. Brooklyn Poets, (Poetry).

Chen, Chen. "Spring," "Winter". 2018. The Massachusetts Review, (Poetry).

Chen, Chen. "Study Abroad". 2018. CityVerse column in City Newspaper, Rochester, NY. (Poetry).

Chen, Chen. "The School of Dreams". 2018. Sixth Finch, (Poetry).

Chen, Chen. "Things the Crows Bring". 2018. Pulse/Pulso: In Remembrance of Orlando, (Poetry).

Chen, Chen. “After My White Friend Says So Cool Upon Hearing Me Speak Chinese on the Phone with My Parents, I Take Another Sip of My Strawberry-Banana Smoothie & Contemplate Coolness & Chineseness," "Items May Have Shifted". 2018. Sine Theta Magazine, (Poetry).

Chen, Chen. “I Invite My Parents to a Dinner Party”. 2018. The Academy of American Poets Poem-a-Day, (Poetry).

Chen, Chen. “Quantitative Reasoning". 2018. Nepantla: An Anthology Dedicated to Queer Poets of Color, (Poetry).

Chen, Chen. “The School of Australia,” “Anti-Elegy: A How-To,” selection from “A Small Book of Questions”. 2018. The McNeese Review, (Poetry).

Chen, Chen. “The School of Logic,” “The School of Joy / Letter to Michelle Lin”. 2018. West Branch, (Poetry).

Chen, Chen. “[Be the look],” “[Be the ridiculous]”. 2018. The Texas Review, (Poetry).

Chen, Chen. “four short essays personifying a future in which white supremacy has ended,” “Summer,” “A Queer Translates the Night Sky”. 2018. Foglifter, (Poetry).