Photo credit
Kyrani Kanavaros

Biography

Jen Sookfong Lee was born and raised in Vancouver’s East Side, and she now lives with her son in North Burnaby. Her books include The Conjoined, nominated for International Dublin Literary Award and a finalist for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, The Better Mother, a finalist for the City of Vancouver Book Award, The End of EastThe Shadow List, and Finding Home. Jen acquires and edits for ECW Press and co-hosts the literary podcast, Can’t Lit.

 

Micro-interview

Did you read poetry when you were in high school? Is there a particular poem that you loved when you were a teenager?

I did read a lot of poetry, and one poem doesn’t stand out in particular, but I was very drawn to the poems of Gwendolyn MacEwen, whom I still love. There is myth and love and the supernatural, what’s not to love?

When did you first start writing poetry? And then when did you start thinking of yourself as a poet?

I was 16 years old, in a creative writing class, when I first thought of myself as poet. I remember writing a poem about my father’s illness and death and something clicked for me. I knew then that poetry would always be a part of my life.

What do you think a poet’s “job” is?

Truly, I think poets are tasked with playing with language to get the heart of whatever it is they are exploring. That could be a topic or a social issue or playing with voice or setting. But our job is to manipulate the language to help get the readers there.

If you have a poem in our anthology what inspired you to write it?

Community Garden was a poem that I had written after I had been trolled online—something that is a sad reality for women of colour who discuss social issues. I don’t like feeling a victim and yet it seemed that there was little I could do to feel better about being a target, so I began walking my dog to my local community garden to help relieve the stress. And while I was staring at a huge sunflower, I thought, “There must be a poem in this.”

If you had to choose one poem to memorize from our anthology, which one would it be?

Publications

Title
The Shadow List
Publisher
Buckrider Books
Date
2021
Publication type
Book
Title
The Conjoined
Publisher
ECW
Date
2016
Publication type
Book
Title
The Better Mother
Publisher
Knopf
Date
2011
Publication type
Book
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