Poetics of Home: A Chinese Diaspora Poetry Festival

In collaboration with the Institute of English Studies and Oxford Brookes Poetry Centre, we are excited to announce a new online festival, Poetics of Home: A Chinese Diaspora Poetry Festival, taking place from 22 September - 6 October 2021.

Click here to view the full programme of events.

Established and curated by Wasafiri's former Writer-in-Residence Jennifer Wong, the festival hopes to connect and showcase established and emerging Anglophone poets writing across the global Chinese diaspora. Core themes of the online poetry readings and panel events include migration, family history, experimental poetics, desire, the meaning of home, and formation of identity across the Chinese diaspora in the UK and beyond.

Nina Mingya Powles, poet and Digital Editor at Wasafiri – who will take part in the event Found in Poetry on 3 October – said: 'This series of events feels truly groundbreaking. I am thrilled to be taking part in Poetics of Home alongside such a broad range of literary voices from across the global Chinese diaspora, both as a poet and as part of the Wasafiri team.'

The festival features well-known Hong Kong poets Tammy Ho, Nicholas Wong, Eddie Tay and Jason Lee, as well as award-winning poets in the US such as Marilyn Chin and Jane Wong; Theophilus Kwek, Joshua Ip and Laura Jane Lee from Singapore; and Mary Jean Chan, Jay G. Ying and Hannah Lowe from the UK.

All the sessions are moderated by leading critics or poet-critics who have a deep understanding of contemporary literature and the practice of writing, including Sarah Howe, Wasafiri founder Susheila Nasta, Dorothy Wang, Robert Hampson, and Wasafiri Editor and Publishing Director, Malachi McIntosh.

Wasafiri asked Poetics of Home poets to pick a favourite poem by another Chinese diaspora poet. We'll be sharing their readings over the next couple of weeks.

Below, listen to Jason Eng Hun Lee read 'What They Saw' by Melody S. Gee:

Tickets for each event are available on a ‘pay what you can’ system, with a recommended donation of £5 for each event. Free tickets are also available.

Poetics of Home is generously supported by the Arts Council England's Lottery Fund. Event partners include the British Chinese Studies Network, SOAS, Asian Cha and the Asian Review of Books.