Mary Jean Chan

Mary Jean Chan (b. 1990, Hong Kong) is a Ledbury Poetry Critic, editor of Oxford Poetry, and a Lecturer in Creative Writing at Oxford Brookes University. The ‘window’ of her poem’s title represents, among other things, a threshold: the speaker ‘struggles with facets of their identity (i.e. queerness) but chooses to survive, and the window crystallises precisely what it is that the living do — that they choose love, reconciliation, and the stubborn — often painfully complex — realities of living.’

In 2017, Mary Jean Chan was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem, becoming the youngest shortlistee in the prize’s history. Her first collection, Flèche, is forthcoming from Faber (2019).

Forward Prizes History:

  • 2019 Forward Prizes for Best Single Poem, shortlisted for ‘The Window’ (National Poetry Competition by the Poetry Society)
  • 2017 Forward Prizes for Best Single Poem, shortlisted for ‘//’ (Ambit)