On Saturday afternoon, October 10, 2026, Ching-in Chen read at Cascadia Poetry Festival 10 at the Rainier Beach Community Club. The other readers from this segment of the fest have been or will be posted over the next couple weeks, including Nadine Maestas, Dion O’Reilly, Geneviève Hicks, and Mateo Quispe.

Ching-in Chen read from their latest book, Shiny City, which they said they had been, “burning down and reconstituting.” Their poetry does that, I think, and when they explained that piece of their process I felt I understood their poetry and them a little better. Spread across the page, read occasionally in what the casual passerby might misunderstand as ‘out of order’, their poetry is revealing of the component parts of their universe. The Chinese diaspora, the Queer, the local, and so much more. Experiencing their reading on this occasion, I felt Ching-in was not just standing before the mirror of the poem, but attending even to the light around them to keep everything honest. I hope you enjoy this video of their reading!

Don’t forget to get ready for CPF 11 in October 2027!