Mary Jean Chan (b. 1990) was born and raised in Hong Kong, and studied at Swarthmore College, the University of Oxford and Royal Holloway, University of London. She is the author of A Hurry of English, which was selected as the 2018 Poetry Book Society (PBS) Summer Pamphlet Choice. Her debut poetry collection Flèche is published by Faber & Faber, and is a 2019 PBS Autumn Recommendation. Her title poem, 'Flèche', won the Poetry Society Geoffrey Dearmer Prize. Poems from her collection have been featured as "Poem of the Week" in The Guardian and "Poem of the Month" in Guardian Review.
In 2016, Mary Jean won the Oxford Brookes International Poetry Competition in the English as an Additional Language category. In 2017, she won the Poetry Society's Anne Born Prize and the Poetry and Psychoanalysis Competition, and came Second in the National Poetry Competition. She was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem in 2017, becoming the youngest shortlistee in the Prizes' history. She is currently shortlisted for the 2019 Forward Prize for Best Single Poem, and is the recipient of an Eric Gregory Award. Mary Jean recently judged the Poetry Business New Poets Prize, and is co-judge of the Stephen Spender Prize for Poetry in Translation.
Mary Jean was named as one of the UK's 8 Ledbury Poetry Critics in 2018, a scheme co-founded by PBS Selector Sandeep Parmar, and has since written reviews for The Guardian, The Poetry Review, Poetry London and elsewhere. Her critical work has appeared in The Journal of American Studies, Wild Court and Modern Poetry in Translation. An editor of Oxford Poetry, advisory board member at the Poetry Translation Centre and member of the Folio Prize Academy, Mary Jean is Lecturer in Creative Writing (Poetry) at Oxford Brookes University and lives in London.
In 2016, Mary Jean won the Oxford Brookes International Poetry Competition in the English as an Additional Language category. In 2017, she won the Poetry Society's Anne Born Prize and the Poetry and Psychoanalysis Competition, and came Second in the National Poetry Competition. She was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem in 2017, becoming the youngest shortlistee in the Prizes' history. She is currently shortlisted for the 2019 Forward Prize for Best Single Poem, and is the recipient of an Eric Gregory Award. Mary Jean recently judged the Poetry Business New Poets Prize, and is co-judge of the Stephen Spender Prize for Poetry in Translation.
Mary Jean was named as one of the UK's 8 Ledbury Poetry Critics in 2018, a scheme co-founded by PBS Selector Sandeep Parmar, and has since written reviews for The Guardian, The Poetry Review, Poetry London and elsewhere. Her critical work has appeared in The Journal of American Studies, Wild Court and Modern Poetry in Translation. An editor of Oxford Poetry, advisory board member at the Poetry Translation Centre and member of the Folio Prize Academy, Mary Jean is Lecturer in Creative Writing (Poetry) at Oxford Brookes University and lives in London.