J.L. Chen

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.