Chen Chen (born March 9, 1989) is a Chinese-American

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

. His book, ''When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities'', has been longlisted for the 2017 National Book Awards. Chen has served as the Jacob Ziskind Poet-in-Residence at

Brandeis University , mottoeng = "Truth even unto its innermost parts" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = NECHE , president = Ronald D. Liebowitz , ...

since 2018. He also serves on the poetry faculty for the low-residency MFA programs at New England College and Stonecoast.

Life

Chen was born in

Xiamen, China Xiamen ( , ; ), also known as Amoy (, from Hokkien pronunciation ), is a sub-provincial city in southeastern Fujian, People's Republic of China, beside the Taiwan Strait. It is divided into six District of the People's Republic of China, ...

and grew up in

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

. After graduating from Newton North High School, he received his B.A. in creative writing and Asian/Pacific/American Studies at

Hampshire College Hampshire College is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. It was opened in 1970 as an experiment in alternative education, in association with four other colleges in the Pioneer Valley: Amherst College, Smith College, Mo ...

in 2011, and his M.F.A. from Syracuse University in 2014. Chen completed his Ph.D. in English and creative writing at

Texas Tech University Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sy ...

, where he was a part-time instructor in composition. His work has appeared in ''

Poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

'', ''

The Massachusetts Review ''The Massachusetts Review'' is a literary quarterly founded in 1959 by a group of professors from Amherst College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. It receives financial support from Five Col ...

'', ''Drunken Boat, Best of the Net'', ''

The Best American Poetry ''The Best American Poetry'' series consists of annual poetry anthologies, each containing seventy-five poems. Background The series, begun by poet and editor David Lehman in 1988, has a different guest editor every year. Lehman, still the general ...

'', '' The Academy of American Poets'', and elsewhere. He has served as a poetry editor for ''Salt Hill Journal'', and currently serves as editor-in-chief of ''Underblong'' and managing editor for ''Iron Horse Review.'' He also edits "the lickety split", a Twitter-based journal that "only publishes poems that fit in a single tweet", alongside his fictional assistant editor Gudetama the Egg.

Awards and fellowships

* 2019

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

Fellowship in Literature *2019 Pushcart Prize *2018 Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry *2018

Great Lakes Colleges Association The Great Lakes Colleges Association (GLCA) is a consortium of 13 liberal arts colleges located in the states around the Great Lakes. The GLCA's offices are located in Ann Arbor, Michigan and its 13 schools are located in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylva ...

(GLCA) New Writers Award *2018 Finalist,

Lambda Literary Award Lambda Literary Awards, also known as the "Lammys", are awarded yearly by Lambda Literary to recognize the crucial role LGBTQ writers play in shaping the world. The Lammys celebrate the very best in LGBTQ literature.The awards were instituted i ...

for Gay Poetry *2017 Longlisted,

National Book Award The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. The Nat ...

* 2016

Kundiman Kundiman is a genre of traditional Filipino love songs. The lyrics of the kundiman are written in Tagalog. The melody is characterized by a smooth, flowing and gentle rhythm with dramatic intervals. Kundiman was the traditional means of sere ...

Fellow * 2015 Finalist,

Poetry Foundation The Poetry Foundation is an American literary society that seeks to promote poetry and lyricism in the wider culture. It was formed from ''Poetry'' magazine, which it continues to publish, with a 2003 gift of $200 million from philanthropist Ru ...

's Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowships * 2014

New Delta Review The ''New Delta Review'' is a literary magazine in the United States in print since 1984 and online since 2012. The journal is published biannually with the support of Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisi ...

's Matt Clark Award in Poetry * 2014 A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize * 2014 Finalist, Narrative's 30 Below Contest * 2011 Joyce Carol Oates Award

Books

* ''Your Emergency Contact Has Experienced an Emergency'' (New York: BOA Editions, forthcoming September 2022) * ''When I Grow Up I Want to be a List of Further Possibilities'' (New York: BOA Editions, 2017) * ''Kissing the Sphinx'' (Two of Cups Press, 2016) * ''Set the Garden on Fire'' (Porkbelly Press, 2015) In anthology * ''Ghost Fishing: An Eco-Justice Poetry Anthology'' (University of Georgia Press, 2018)

References

{{authority control American male poets 21st-century American poets Chinese emigrants to the United States American writers of Chinese descent Writers from Massachusetts American LGBT poets American gay writers American LGBT people of Asian descent 21st-century American male writers Hampshire College alumni