Poetry is one of the five elements necessary for a comprehensive Chinese garden along with rocks, architecture, water, and plants. Chinese gardens in China and Lan Su Chinese Garden in Portland are filled with poetic inscriptions: as text, calligraphy, engravings and plaques. During this Chinese heritage poetry series, hear poetry come alive with readings and Q&A sessions with five prolific Pacific Northwest poets. Discover an additional poetry series, workshops and more during Poetry Month at Lan Su »
Free with Lan Su membership or admission; no registration is required.
Wendy Chin-Tanner is the author of Turn (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2014), which was a finalist for the Oregon Book Awards. Her work has been published at The Collagist, Denver Quarterly, RHINO Poetry, Margins, The Mays Anthology of Oxford and Cambridge, and elsewhere. She is a founding editor at Kin Poetry Journal, poetry editor at The Nervous Breakdown, and staff interviewer at Lantern Review. Born and raise in NYC, Wendy was educated at Cambridge University, UK, and lives in Portland, OR with her husband and two daughters.
Zhang Er, born in Beijing, is the author of five collections of poetry in Chinese, most recently Morning, Not Yet (2015). She has seven chapbooks in English translation, among them, The Disappearance of Little Fang Family Lane (2015). Her selected poems in two bilingual collections, So Translating Rivers and Cities and Verses on Bird were from Zephyr Press. She co-edited and participated in the translation of the bilingual volume Another Kind of Nation: an Anthology of Contemporary Chinese Poetry (Talisman House Publishers). Her publications in English can be found here. She also wrote opera libretti in English for American composers. One of them Moon in the Mirror was recently performed in NYC and can be seen here. She teaches at The Evergreen State College in Tacoma, Washington.
Dan Huynh received his Bachelor’s Degree from National Taiwan University and his Master’s Degree from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Indiana, both in Electrical Engineering. He went on to become a registered Professional Engineer and Certified Vibration Specialist with PacifiCorp. After retiring as a Principal Engineer, he assisted three major hydro-electric power plants (including the famous Three-Gorges Plant in China) by using vibration analysis to conduct preventative maintenance work. He now uses his skills in vibration analysis to tune friends’ pianos, and in his spare-time, is free-lance writer who writes poems and prose for Chinese Newspapers. He has joined Lan Su Chinese Garden as a volunteer docent since 2003.
Sam Roxas-Chua is the author of Fawn Language, published by Tebot Bach (2014). His poems have appeared in various journals including Narrative Magazine, december Magazine, Jefferson Monthly, and the forthcoming anniversary issue of Cream City Review. His collection of poems, Diary of Collected Summers, won the first place award in the 7th Annual Missouri Review Audio Competition in poetry. Sam has read for diverse audiences including the Oregon Poetry Association, Windfall Reading Series, and Stonehenge Studio Reading Series, and he was recently invited to open a session of the Oregon State Legislature. In 2014, Sam was commissioned by the poet Marvin Bell to create, design, and publish a book: The Dorothy Poems. He is the owner of The Poetry Loft, a small business dedicated to community writing workshops and the promotion of poets and writers. He’s also the editor of The Quietry, a bi-annual literary journal. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Pacific University and calls Eugene, Oregon his home.
239 Northwest Everett Street, Portland, Oregon 97209
Call Us: 503.228.8131
Lan Su Chinese Garden
38 NW Davis St #260, Portland, OR 97209
Members, donors and visitors help keep Lan Su healthy and growing. Lan Su is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and all donations and memberships are tax deductible. Lan Su’s Federal Tax ID number (EIN) is 93-1296840.