Justin Chin: Selected Works

Notable literary figures pay tribute to poet/writer Justin Chin with personal commentaries on works selected from his seven books.

Justin Chin's fearless and fierce voice was resolute in relating his worldview, whether directly or through metaphorical language. As a queer Asian American, born and raised in Southeast Asia within a devoutly Christian, ethnically Chinese family of medical professionals, Chin's early life experience informed his writing and framed his point of view. In his literary works, the seemingly conflicted duality of existence is paramount: sacred and profane, saints and sinners, health and illness, hope and despair, life and death. His works also explore his experience of living with HIV, which progressed into AIDS in his final years.

This unique collection of Chin's literary legacy will serve as both a primer for those new to his works, as well as a loving tribute by those writers who knew him and his work best.

Among many others, contributing writers include R. Zamora Linmark (Rolling the R's), Michelle Tea (How To Grow Up), Timothy Liu (Don't Go Back To Sleep), and Lois-Ann Yamanaka (Night at the Pahala Theatre).

Justin Chin (1969-2015) was the award-winning author of four poetry books, two essay collections, one book each of short fiction, and text-based performance art works. His writing appeared in literary magazines, including Beloit Poetry Journal, and anthologies, including American Poetry: The Next Generation (Carnegie Mellon). He taught at UC Santa Cruz and at San Francisco State University. He was a recipient of fellowships and grants from the California Arts Council, Djerassi Foundation, Franklin Furnace Fund, PEN American Center, and PEN Center USA West, among others.

Poet, essayist, and performance artist Justin Chin (1969-2015) was born in Malaysia and educated in Singapore and at the University of Hawaii. Chin s humorous and brutally honest literary works explore the personal, social, and metaphorical aspects embracing a queer Asian American life. Chin authored several collections of poetry, including Bite Hard (1997), Harmless Medicine (2001), and Gutted (2006), which won the Publishing Triangle s Thom Gunn Award for Poetry. Six of Chin’s books were Lambda Literary Award Finalists. His prose collections, which weave criticism with memoir and fiction, include Mongrel: Essays, Diatribes, & Pranks (1998), Burden of Ashes (2002), and 98 Wounds (2011). A collection of Chin’s text-based performance art works, Attack of the Man-Eating Lotus Blossoms (2005) was also published. He was a longtime resident of San Francisco before his death in late 2015.
Contributing writers include
R. Zamora Linmark is the award-winning author of Rolling the R’s and other works.
Michelle Tea is the award-winning author of more than 10 books, including The Beautiful.
Timothy Liu is the award-winning author of 8 books, including Publishers Weekly Book of the Year Of Thee I Sing.
Lois-Ann Yamanaka is the award-winning author of 8 books, including Saturday Night at the Pahala Theatre.
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