Chen Chen 07F

Chen Chen is the author of When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities (BOA Editions, 2017), which was longlisted for the National Book Award and won the Thom Gunn Award, among other honors. He is also the author of the forthcoming craft/personal essay collection, In Cahoots with the Rabbit God (Noemi Press, 2023). His work appears in many publications, including Poetry, Poem-a-Day, and three editions of The Best American Poetry (2015, 2019, and 2021).

He has received a Pushcart Prize and fellowships from Kundiman and the National Endowment for the Arts. He teaches at Brandeis University as the Jacob Ziskind Poet-in-Residence and also serves on the poetry faculty for the low residency M.F.A. programs at New England College and Stonecoast. With a brilliant team, he runs the journal Underblong. He lives in Waltham, Massachusetts, with his partner Jeff Gilbert.

At Hampshire College, Chen Chen studied modern and contemporary U.S. literature, political poetry, and sociology of race. He also completed a Five College Certificate in Asian Pacific American Studies. His Div III consisted of a chapbook-length collection of poetry exploring family, immigration, and sexuality.

Photo by Paula Champagne

Chen shares advice for young writers: