# Tina Chang

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**Tina Chang** is an American [poet](/source/Poet), professor, editor, organizer, and public speaker. In 2010, she was named [Poet Laureate](/source/Poet_Laureate) of [Brooklyn](/source/Brooklyn).

## Early life and education

Chang was born in 1969 in Oklahoma to [Taiwanese](/source/Taiwanese_people) immigrants, who had met in Montreal, where her mother was working as a nurse and her father was earning his doctorate in physics. The family moved to Queens, New York, when she was a year old, where she was raised except for a period during her youth, when Chang and her brother were sent to live in [Taiwan](/source/Taiwan) with relatives for two years. "I started questioning even at a very young age, well, what is language?" she said. "What is the role of words?" [1]

Chang earned her B.A. in English literature from [Binghamton University](/source/Binghamton_University).[2] She received her Master of Fine Arts degree in poetry from [Columbia University](/source/Columbia_University).

## Career

Since fall of 2020, Chang has served as Professor and Director of Creative Writing at her undergraduate alma mater, [Binghamton University](/source/Binghamton_University). She oversees the Binghamton Center for Writers which includes the Distinguished Writers series, Common Ground, a reading series devoted to undergraduate and graduate creative writers, the Binghamton Writers Project, the Harpur Palate literary journal, Coffee & Conversation, the Word of Mouth annual collaboration between student poets and composers, and annual literary awards.

She published three full-length collections of poetry: *Half-Lit Houses* ([Four Way Books](/source/Four_Way_Books), 2004), *Of Gods & Strangers* ([Four Way Books](/source/Four_Way_Books), 2011), and *Hybrida* ([W.W. Norton](/source/W.W._Norton), 2019) which was named a Most Anticipated Book of 2019 by *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)*, *[O, The Oprah Magazine](/source/O,_The_Oprah_Magazine)*, [NPR](/source/NPR), and *[The Washington Post](/source/The_Washington_Post)*, and featured in *[Poets & Writers](/source/Poets_%26_Writers)*, the *[Los Angeles Review of Books](/source/Los_Angeles_Review_of_Books)* among many other publications. It was one of five poetry collections cited by *[Publishers Weekly](/source/Publishers_Weekly)* in its Best Books of 2019 issue. Along with poets [Nathalie Handal](/source/Nathalie_Handal) and [Ravi Shankar](/source/Ravi_Shankar_(poet)), she is the co-editor of [Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East, Asia and Beyond](/source/Language_for_a_New_Century:_Contemporary_Poetry_from_the_Middle_East,_Asia_and_Beyond) ([W.W. Norton](/source/W.W._Norton), 2008).

Her work has appeared in numerous publications such as *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)*, *[McSweeney's](/source/McSweeney's)*, and *[Ploughshares](/source/Ploughshares)*.[3] The *[San Francisco Chronicle](/source/San_Francisco_Chronicle)* has described her poetry as "a vast, beautifully fashioned mosaic of indelible, variegated pieces."[4] One of her chief goals is to "demystify the role of the poet."

She has held residencies at [MacDowell Colony](/source/MacDowell_Colony), Djerassi Artist's Residency, [Vermont Studio Center](/source/Vermont_Studio_Center), Fundacion Valparaiso, Ragdale, the Constance Saltonstall Foundation,[5] Blue Mountain Center, and the [Virginia Center for the Creative Arts](/source/Virginia_Center_for_the_Creative_Arts).

## Awards

Chang was elected Brooklyn Poet Laureate in 2010.[6][7] She has received grants and awards from the [New York Foundation for the Arts](/source/New_York_Foundation_for_the_Arts), the Barbara Deming Memorial Foundation/Money for Women, and the Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation, Poets & Writers and The [Academy of American Poets](/source/Academy_of_American_Poets). She has also won a [Dana Award](/source/Dana_Award) for poetry. She was a finalist for an [Asian American Literary Award](/source/Asian_American_Literary_Award) from the [Asian American Writers' Workshop](/source/Asian_American_Writers'_Workshop), for *Half-Lit Houses*[8]

## Books

- *Half-Lit Houses*. Four Way Books. 2004. ISBN 978-1884800528.
- *Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East, Asia and Beyond*. W. W. Norton. 2008. ISBN 978-0393332384.
- *Of Gods & Strangers*. Four Way Books. 2011. ISBN 978-1935536178.
- *Hybrida*. W. W. Norton & Company. 2019. ISBN 978-1324002482.

### Anthologies

- *Poetry 30: Poets in their Thirties*, (MAMMOTH Books, 2005)
- *Asian American Poetry: The Next Generation*, (University of Illinois Press, 2004)
- *Asian American Literature* (McGraw-Hill, 2001)
- *Identity Lessons* (Penguin, 1999).

## References

1. Gootman, Elissa (March 19, 2010). ["A Poet Who Doesn't Do Lofty"](https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/nyregion/21poet.html). *The New York Times*

1. ["The Binghamton Center for Writers - English, General Literature and Rhetoric | Binghamton University"](https://www.binghamton.edu/english/creative-writing/binghamton-center-for-writers/index.html). *English, General Literature and Rhetoric - Binghamton University*. Retrieved 2019-07-21.

1. ["Read by Author | Ploughshares"](http://www.pshares.org/authors/author-detail.cfm?authorID=1935)

1. Harlan, Megan (20 April 2008). ["'Language for a New Century': Poetry from Asia"](https://www.sfgate.com/books/article/Language-for-a-New-Century-Poetry-from-Asia-3218046.php). [SFGate](/source/SFGate). Retrieved 3 January 2019.

1. ["Tina Chang ('06) publishes new poetry collection"](https://web.archive.org/web/20190710161040/https://www.saltonstall.org/tina-chang-publishes-new-poetry-collection). *Saltonstall*. Archived from [the original](https://www.saltonstall.org/tina-chang-publishes-new-poetry-collection) on 2019-07-10. Retrieved 2019-07-10.

1. ["Brooklyn Borough President"](https://web.archive.org/web/20101214041155/http://www.brooklyn-usa.org/pages/Poetry/BrooklynPoetLaureate.htm). Archived from [the original](http://www.brooklyn-usa.org/pages/poetry/BrooklynPoetLaureate.htm) on 2010-12-14. Retrieved 2010-12-14.

1. Poets, Academy of American. ["About Tina Chang | Academy of American Poets"](https://poets.org/poet/tina-chang). *poets.org*. Retrieved 2019-07-21.

1. Poets, Academy of American. ["About Tina Chang | Academy of American Poets"](https://poets.org/poet/tina-chang). *poets.org*. Retrieved 2019-07-21.

## External links

- [Homepage for Tina Chang](http://www.tinachang.com)
- [Audio recording: Tina Chang at the Key West Literary Seminar, 2008](http://www.kwls.org/lit/podcasts/2010/04/tina_chang_2008.cfm) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20101203094508/http://www.kwls.org/lit/podcasts/2010/04/tina_chang_2008.cfm) 2010-12-03 at the Wayback Machine
- [A Poet Who Doesn't Do Lofty, The New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/nyregion/21poet.html)
- [Why I Write, Publishers Weekly](http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/454376-Why_I_Write_Tina_Chang.php?rssid=20807&q=tina+chang)
- [Poetry Society of America, Q & A: American Poetry](https://www.poetrysociety.org/psa/poetry/crossroads/qa_american_poetry/page_11/)
- [Official Press Release, BP Markowitz Names Tina Chang of Park Slope as Poet Laureate of Brooklyn](https://web.archive.org/web/20100713025753/http://www.brooklyn-usa.org/press/2010/feb3b_MA.htm)
- [Brooklyn's New Poet Laureate Wants to Weave Poetry into Residents' Lives](http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/brooklyn_new_poet_laureate_wants_IX6FntA0uddHBAPK7xV8qK)
- [Brooklyn Poet Laureate Envisions Outreach into Brooklyn Communities](http://www.brooklyneagle.com/categories/category.php?category_id=27&id=33360)
- [From the Fishouse, audio recordings of Tina Chang's poems](https://web.archive.org/web/20070927002929/http://fishousepoems.org/archives/tina_chang/index.shtml)
- [Interview with Li-Young Lee](http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/19802)
- [drunkenboat.com, audio recordings of Tina Chang's poems](http://www.drunkenboat.com/db9/index.html)
- [New York Times, Princeton Poetry Festival](https://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/19/nyregion/new-jersey/19poetrynj.html?scp=1&sq=tina%20chang&st=cse,)
- ["Strange Theater"; "Wild Invention"; "Imagine, Refugee", *Guernica*, November 2007](http://www.guernicamag.com/poetry/436/three_poems_3/)
- ["Duality", *Poets.org*](http://poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/19775)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Tina Chang](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tina_Chang) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tina_Chang?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.