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J.L. Chen

@jlchenwrites

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Poet | Writer | Dancer
Stegner Fellow @stanford
Bilingual En | 中文

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by @jlchenwrites

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5

a year ago

I’ve been holding this news close for a while, and I’m ready to share it now.

I’ve been awarded the Wallace Stegner Fellowship in Poetry at Stanford University for 2026–2028. Out of thousands of applicants worldwide, five poets were selected — and I’m one of them. I still pinch myself sometimes.

I would like to start by thanking two professors at UBC who opened the door to poetry for me. @bronwentate — I walked into your office hours, read you a poem, and that poem became my first publication. You taught me that English being my second language wasn’t a limitation — it was an advantage, full of possibilities. @shereets — your class on sequence changed how I think about what poems can do together. A third of the portfolio that got me this fellowship came directly from what I learned with you. Thank you both for being such wonderful teachers.

To my UKing’s MFA family — @stephen.e.kimber @kenmcgoogan @carolshaben , and my MFA cohort and fellow writers — you gave me the foundation, the community, and the courage to keep going.

Special thanks to @amyfishwrites who told me early on that if I haven’t collected at least 100 rejections, I haven’t been trying hard enough. I took that to heart — and then doubled it.

To every editor and reader at @cincinnatireview @reviewcanada @queens_quarterly @prisminternational @grainlitmag @arcpoetrymag @eventmags @tupelo_quarterly @westtradereview @westtradereview @vallummag @theswannanoareview @thebayoureview @canlitjournal @cbcbooks @nwreview — thank you for giving my work a home. And please know — I dance to every single acceptance!

To anyone writing and submitting and waiting — keep going. We don’t know when we will get there, but we will get there eventually. taken in Stanford University by @jlchenwrites

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130

6 months ago

#chinesecanadian #asiancanadian #canadianpoet #vancouverpoet by @jlchenwrites

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7

a year ago

Thank you to editors Katherine Wheatley and Jon Tadmor for giving my poem Night Visitor a home at MANTIS.

#asianamericanpoets #poetryofinsta #asiancanadian #diasporavoices taken in San Francisco, California by @jlchenwrites

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4

7 days ago

Went to Green Library @stanford pretty late the other day, and thought it might be closed. Nope. It’s open till midnight, and after that one section of the library just stays open all night for whoever needs it.

I was there to print my manuscript. 2 cents a page. The whole thing came out to $2. I’ve spent more on a coffee ☕️

Walking out, I kept thinking about Starfield Library @seoul, which I visited earlier this year. That place is unreal. Shelves going all the way up, and I spent my whole visit trying to figure out how anyone gets a book off the top shelf. Turns out you don’t. lol

Two very different libraries. I’m a fan of both.

#stanford #starfieldlibrary #poetofinstagram taken in Stanford University by @jlchenwrites

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14 days ago

When I announced my Stegner Fellowship, I mentioned that writing poetry in my second language is an advantage, and it’s full of possibilities. Quite a few people asked me to explain what I meant. There was no short answer and I was thinking to write an essay about it.

When Niko Bell from @montecristo_mag reached out with the same question, it became the perfect place to tell this personal story.

Sharing it now as I start my fellowship at Stanford next week, just in time for the Moon Festival.

Many thanks to @nikombell and @fiona_morrow at @montecristo_mag, and to Joy Kim for her gorgeous illustrations.

See full article Link in bio. ⬆️ taken in Stanford University by @jlchenwrites

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3

a month ago

Some of you reached out after reading this piece— thank you for your kind words!

Duplex is a form created by the fabulous @jerichobrown1 — a loop where each line echoes the last, tightening. I first learned about it from one of the best poetry professors @bronwentate ❤️

I realized the form mirrors exactly how surveillance works: repetitive, inescapable, compounding.

The BBC covered AI 2027 (ai-2027.com), a speculative scenario about superintelligence reshaping the world. Algorithm Duplex is my version of that speculation.

Thanks to @reviewcanada for giving a home to this poem.
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#poetryreels #aifuture #surveillance #canadianpoetry #asianamerican by @jlchenwrites

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4

8 months ago

fire horse, 丙午

there was a guzheng playing between boarding calls at YVR, red lanterns strung above duty-free wine, and beneath the glass floor, fish circling
under Indigenous sky —

The sun refused to set across the pacific. It just kept stretching itself thin and gold against the window, the way memory does when you’re between the place you come from and the place you’re going.

Seoul was cold and blue and full of history. The palace drums. Changing guards. Silk catching winter light on stone paths older than the idea of countries. At Jongmyo, the spirit road runs straight—
they say the fire horse comes once every sixty years. the last time was 1966. the next, 2086. most of us will only live inside this one.

and tonight, somewhere — a grandmother in Shanghai, a father in New York, a child in Seoul are looking up at the same new moon
and calling it by different names
for the same ache, the same hope.

We are brief. The tradition is long.
Longer than any border. Older than any passport. And it finds us, wherever we go.

新春快乐 ·
happy lunar new year 🐴

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#LunarNewYear #YearOfTheFireHorse #poetofinstagram #diaspora #asiancanadian by @jlchenwrites

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2

8 months ago

taken in Vancouver - Unceeded Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Territory by @jlchenwrites

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8 months ago

taken in Vancouver - Unceeded Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Territory by @jlchenwrites

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9 months ago

The Chinese word 命here, often it was translated as fate or destiny. I translated the circle of life here, to fit the story. Any thoughts? by @jlchenwrites

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2

9 months ago

Grateful to @prisminternational for publishing my poem - Turning. taken in Vancouver - Unceeded Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Territory by @jlchenwrites

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4

9 months ago