Sarah Tsiang

Sarah Tsiang

Sarah Tsiang (b. 1978, Montreal, Canada) writes poems which deal uncompromisingly with contemporary sexual mores. ‘Dick pics’ is characteristically subversive and witty, with an eye for the unexpected image: ‘a graffitied cock, standing on balls / pointing to the night sky, / like a fallen constellation’.

Tsiang was initially resistant to seeing herself as a poet: ‘It seemed like a weighted, pretentious word and I wondered if I could still be a poet during my fallow times when I wasn’t writing? Eventually I realised that the act of reading and writing poetry was enough – to be a poet is similar to other trades (though with less pay) in that much of it is putting your head down and getting to work.’

Read reviews of Sarah Tsiang collections: Sweet Devilry, in Literary Mama, and Status Update, in Arc Poetry Magazine.

Forward Prize History:

• Forward Prize for Best Single Poem 2020, shortlisted for ‘Dick pics’ (The Moth)

Photo credit: Bernard Clarke