Eileen Chong

Eileen Chong (born 1980) is an Australian contemporary poet.
Early life and education
Chong was born in Singapore in 1980. She is of Hakka, Hokkien, and Peranakan descent. She grew up speaking English, Mandarin, and Hokkien. Chong studied English language and literature at the National Institute of Education in Singapore and taught literature in secondary schools.
She migrated to Sydney, Australia, in 2007. After moving to Sydney she undertook a Masters of Letters at the University of Sydney. After taking a poetry class with Judith Beveridge, she started writing poetry in 2009.
Career
Chong was awarded the Poets Union Youth Fellowship in 2010.
In 2011–12, Chong was an Australian Poetry Fellow, which led to the publication of her first book Burning Rice.
In 2016 Chong was poet-in-residence at the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney and the Bundanon Trust.
Chong's first book, Burning Rice, is on the New South Wales’ Higher School Certificate syllabus for English Extension from 2019 to 2023. This book was the first poetry collection by an Asian-Australian poet to be on the New South Wales’ English syllabus for the Higher School Certificate from 2019 to 2023. Chong's poem, ‘My Hakka Grandmother’, is part of a suite of poems from Contemporary Asian Australian Poets on the NSW HSC syllabus for English, 2019–2023.
Eileen Chong reflected on her upbringing and its influence on themes in her writing:"To paraphrase Wittgenstein, the limits of the world I grew up in were very much defined by the language of food. Ancestor worship and veneration centered around food offerings; my grandparents and parents certainly never told me they loved me when I was growing up, but they would ask if I was hungry, and they would do whatever it took to feed me, and they fed me well."
Selected bibliography
The Uncommon Feast (single-author essays, poems, and recipes) (2018) Introduction by Judith Beveridge, illustrations by Colin Cassidy. Recent Work Press, Canberra, Australia.
Poetry collections
Burning Rice (2012) Australian Poetry New Voices Series 2012, Melbourne, Australia. Reprinted 2013. Pitt Street Poetry, Sydney, Australia.
Peony (2014) Pitt Street Poetry, Sydney, Australia.
Painting Red Orchids (2016) Pitt Street Poetry, Sydney, Australia.
Another Language (2017) Foreword by Paul Kane; George Braziller, New York City, USA.
Rainforest (2018) Pitt Street Poetry, Sydney, Australia.
Map-Making (2018), Photographs by Charlene Winfred; Potts Point Press, Sydney, Australia.
Dark Matter (2018) International Poetry Studies Institute, with Recent Work Press, Canberra, Australia.
A Thousand Crimson Blooms (2021) University of Queensland Press, Brisbane, Australia.
Anthologies
Awards
In 2013 Chong's collection Burning Rice was shortlisted for the 2013 Prime Minister's Literary Awards (Poetry).
In 2017 Chong's collection Painting Red Orchids was shortlisted for the 2017 Victorian Premier's Literary Award (Poetry) and the Prime Minister's Literary Awards (Poetry).
In 2019 her collection Rainforest (Pitt Street Poetry) was shortlisted for the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, Multicultural Award.
In 2022 her collection A Thousand Crimson Blooms (UQP) was shortlisted for the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry.
References
External links
Official website
Interview with Chong at Djed Press
Chong's poems at Glasgow Review of Books
Eileen Chong on beauty and truth: a poetics of resistance at Writing NSW
Singaporean people of Hakka descent
Australian people of Chinese descent
Australian poets
1980 births
University of Sydney alumni
Living people
Singaporean emigrants to Australia