Kirsten Shu-ying Chen is a poet and writer born and raised on the Jersey Shore. Her writing and multimedia work centers life as a boundless experience of celebration and grief, and has been supported by Best American Poetry, the New York Public Library, and the Museum of the Moving Image. Chen's poetry can be found in Verse Daily, Bear Review, Hanging Loose, and elsewhere.
Her debut, full-length poetry collection, Light Waves (Terrapin Books, 2022) honors her relationship with her mother as a young caregiver and explores life. It was a finalist for the Autumn House Press Chapbook Prize and Tomaz Salamun Chapbook Prize by Factory Hollow Press. Chen has also been shortlisted for the PANK book prize, was as a semi-finalist for the GRIST Pro Forma contest, and was a semi-finalist for the Disquiet International Literary Prize. Her screenplays have scored an '8' on the blacklist and have been shortlisted for the ISA Fast Track and WeScreenplay competitions.
While at MacDowell, she worked on her second book of poetry, about exploring the intersection of grief and desire as well as facing and transforming ancestral fears. Her process while in residence included wandering the woods, looking out into the pitch-black night, and staying up late into the night next to the fireplace in her studio.
Portrait by Adrianna Favero
