Chen Chen (
Chinese: 陳琛;
pinyin: Chén Chēn, born March 9, 1989) is an American
poet.[1] His book, When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities, was longlisted for the 2017
National Book Award for Poetry.[2] Chen serves on the poetry faculty for the low-residency MFA programs at New England College and Stonecoast.[3] He served as Jacob Ziskind Poet-in-Residence at
Brandeis University from 2018-2022.
Life
Chen was born in
Xiamen, China and grew up in
Massachusetts. After graduating from Newton North High School, he received his B.A. in creative writing and Asian/Pacific/American Studies at
Hampshire College in 2011, and his M.F.A. from
Syracuse University in 2014.[3] Chen completed his Ph.D. in English and creative writing at
Texas Tech University, where he was a part-time instructor in composition.[4]
His work has appeared in Poetry, The Massachusetts Review, Drunken Boat, Best of the Net, The Best American Poetry, The Academy of American Poets, and elsewhere. He has served as a poetry editor for Salt Hill Journal, and currently serves as editor-in-chief of Underblong and managing editor for Iron Horse Review.[5] He also edits "the lickety split", a Twitter-based journal that "only publishes poems that fit in a single tweet",[6] alongside his fictional assistant editor
Gudetama the Egg.[7]