Staceyann Chin (born December 25, 1972) is a

spoken-word Spoken word is an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a 20th-century continuation of an ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetics of recitation ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

, performing artist and

LGBTQ rights Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Nota ...

political activist. Her work has been published in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'', and the ''Pittsburgh Daily'', and has been featured on ''

60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who distinguished it from other news programs by using a unique style o ...

''. She was also featured on ''

The Oprah Winfrey Show ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'' is an American first-run syndicated talk show that was hosted by Oprah Winfrey. The show ran for twenty-five seasons from September 8, 1986, to May 25, 2011, in which it broadcast 4,561 episodes. The show was taped i ...

'', where she shared her struggles growing up as a gay person in Jamaica. Chin's first full-length poetry collection was published in 2019.

Personal life

Chin was born in

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

but now lives in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

. She is of Chinese-Jamaican and

Afro-Jamaican ''See also'' Mulattos in Jamaica Afro-Jamaicans are Jamaicans of predominantly African descent. They represent the largest ethnic group in the country. The ethnogenesis of the Black Jamaican people stemmed from the Atlantic slave trade of ...

descent. She announced in 2011 that she was pregnant with her first child, giving birth to her daughter in 2012. She has been candid about her pregnancy by means of

in-vitro fertilization In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a process of fertilisation in which an egg is combined with sperm in vitro ("in glass"). The process involves monitoring and stimulating the ovulatory process, then removing an ovum or ova (egg or eggs) from t ...

, and wrote about her experiences as a pregnant, single lesbian in a guest blog for the ''

HuffPost ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...

''.

Career

Openly

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

, she has been an "out poet and political activist" since 1998. In addition to performing in and co-writing the Tony-nominated '' Russell Simmons' Def Poetry Jam on Broadway'', Chin has appeared in

Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

one-woman shows and at the

Nuyorican Poets Cafe Nuyorican is a portmanteau word blending "New York" (or "Nueva York" in Spanish) and "Puerto Rican," referring to Puerto Rican migration to New York City, Puerto Ricans located in or around New York City, their culture, or their descendants (es ...

. She has also held poetry workshops worldwide. Chin credits her accomplishments to her hard-working grandmother and the pain of her mother's absence. Chin's poetry can be found in her first chapbook, ''Wildcat Woman'', the one she now carries on her back, ''Stories Surrounding My Coming'', and numerous

anthologies In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and ge ...

, including ''Skyscrapers, Taxis and Tampons'', ''Poetry Slam'', ''Role Call'', ''Cultural Studies: Critical Methodologies''. Chin's voice can be heard on CD compilations out of Bar 13- Union Square and Pow Wow productions. In 2009, Chin published her autobiographical novel, ''The Other Side of Paradise: A Memoir''. She has been a host on Logo's ''After Ellen'' Internet show, "She Said What?" and a co-host of Centric's ''My Two Cents''. In 2009, Chin performed in ''

The People Speak The People Speak is an online community of young people who want to get involved in global issues. The community engages people of all ages and backgrounds in thoughtful discussions about the value of international cooperation for the United State ...

'', a documentary feature film that uses dramatic and musical performances of the letters, diaries, and speeches of everyday Americans, based on historian

Howard Zinn Howard Zinn (August 24, 1922January 27, 2010) was an American historian and a veteran of World War II. He was chair of the history and social sciences department at Spelman College, and a political science professor at Boston University. Zinn ...

's ''

A People's History of the United States '' A People's History of the United States'' is a 1980 nonfiction book (updated in 2003) by American historian and political scientist Howard Zinn. In the book, Zinn presented what he considered to be a different side of history from the more ...

''. She taught a seminar at the arts-oriented Saint Ann's School in

. In 2024 she was the subject of Laurie Townshend's documentary film '' A Mother Apart''.Andrew Parker
"Hot Docs 2024 Review , A Mother Apart"
'' TheGATE.ca'', April 26,. 2024.

Critical analysis

Chin's "activist driven" work has garnered praise in various publications. Of her one-woman show ''Border/Clash'', The ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' wrote that Chin "is sassy, rageful and sometimes softly self-mocking." ''

The Advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. The Advocate, The Advocates or Advocate may also refer to: Magazines * The Advocate (magazine), ''The Advocate'' (magazine), an LGBT magazine based in the United States * ''The Harvard Advocate' ...

'' wrote, "With poems that combine hilarious one-liners ("I told her I liked the way she made that pink push-up bra look intellectual") with a refusal to conform ("I want to be the dyke who ''likes'' to fuck men"), Chin is out to confront more than just the straight world." In the book, ''Words in Your Face: A Guided Tour Through Twenty Years of the New York City Poetry Slam'', author Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz referred to Chin as "definitely the prize to win" among the three New York City

Poetry Slam A poetry slam is a competitive art event in which poets perform spoken word, spoken word poetry before a live audience and a panel of judges. Poetry slams began in Chicago in the 1980s, with the first slam competition designed to move poetry rec ...

venues during the years she competed, adding:

Awards

Chin was the winner of the 1999 Chicago People of Color Slam; first runner- up in the 1999 Outright

; winner of the 1998 Lambda Poetry Slam; a finalist in the 1999 Nuyorican Grand Slam; winner of the 1998 and 2000 Slam This!; and winner of WORD: The First Slam for Television. She has also been featured by

public-access television Public-access television (sometimes called community-access television) is traditionally a form of non-commercial mass media where the general public can create content television programming which is Narrowcasting, narrowcast through cable tele ...

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...

programs in Brooklyn and Manhattan as well as many local radio stations including, WHCR and WBAI. The Joseph Papp

Public Theater The Public Theater is an arts organization in New York City. Founded by Joseph Papp, The Public Theater was originally the Shakespeare Workshop in 1954; its mission was to support emerging playwrights and performers.Epstein, Helen. ''Joe Papp: A ...

has featured her on more than one occasion, and Staceyann has toured internationally, with performances in London, Denmark, Germany, South Africa and New York's own

Central Park Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, and the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the List of parks in New York City, sixth-largest park in the ...

Summer Stage. In 2015, she was named by Equality Forum as one of their 31 Icons of the 2015 LGBTQ History Month.

Other Awards

* Drama Desk Award (2003) * Center for Women and Gender at Dartmouth College for the Visionary-in-Residence Award (2007) * Human Rights Campaign Power of the Voice Award (2007) * Lesbian AIDS Project Honors (2008) * Safe Haven Award from Immigration Equality (2008) * New York State Senate Special Human Rights Award (2009) *

American Book Awards The American Book Awards are an American literary award that annually recognizes a set of books and people for "outstanding literary achievement". According to the 2010 awards press release, it is "a writers' award given by other writers" and "t ...

(2020)

Works

Books

* ''The Other Side of Paradise - A Memoir.'' 2010. New York: Scribner.
''Crossfire: A Litany for Survival''
2019. Chicago:

Haymarket Books Haymarket Books is an American non-profit, independent book publisher based in Chicago and emphasizing works on left-wing politics. History Haymarket Books was founded in 2001 by Anthony Arnove, Ahmed Shawki and Julie Fain, all of whom had ...

Chapbooks

* ''Wildcat Woman'' (1998) * ''Stories Surrounding My Coming'' (2001) * ''Catalogue the Insanity'' (2005) * ''Mad Hatter: Ramblings from the Attic Volume 1'' (2007) * ''Mad Hatter: Ramblings from the Attic Volume 2'' (2007)

Theatre

* ''Hands Afire'' (2000) (one-woman show) - Bleecker Theatre, New York * ''Unspeakable Things'' (2001) (one-woman show) - Bleecker Theatre, New York * '' Russell Simmons' Def Poetry Jam on Broadway'' (2002-2003) * ''Border/Clash: A Litany of Desires'' (2005) (one-woman show) - Bleecker Theatre, New York * ''Motherstruck!'' (one-woman show) (2015-2016) (Run in Chicago, DC, and NYC)

Anthologies

* "Authenticity", in ''Black Cool: One Thousand Streams of Blackness. Edited by

Rebecca Walker Rebecca Walker (born Rebecca Leventhal; November 17, 1969) is an American writer, feminist, and activist. Walker has been regarded as one of the prominent voices of Third Wave Feminism, and the coiner of the term "third wave", since publishing ...

'' (

Soft Skull Press Counterpoint LLC was a publishing company that Perseus Books Group launched in 2007. It was formed from the consolidation of three presses: Perseus' Counterpoint Press, Shoemaker & Hoard, and Soft Skull Press. The company published books under b ...

, February 1, 2012)Staff (December 12, 2011)
"Black Cool: One Thousand Streams of Blackness
Edited by

.", ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

''.

Performances

* Staceyann Chin
Performed Poems
in ''Trikster - Nordic Queer Journal'' #3, 2009.

Interviews

* Staceyann Chin & Ulrika Dahl

in ''Trikster - Nordic Queer Journal'' #3, 2009

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chin, Staceyann 1972 births Living people 20th-century African-American writers 20th-century African-American women 21st-century African-American writers 21st-century African-American women writers 21st-century American women writers African-American feminists African-American poets African-American women musicians American Book Award winners American lesbian writers American LGBTQ people of Asian descent American LGBTQ poets American LGBTQ rights activists American spoken word artists American women poets American writers of Chinese descent American writers of Jamaican descent American feminist musicians Hakka writers Jamaican emigrants to the United States Jamaican LGBTQ poets 21st-century Jamaican poets Jamaican women poets Jamaican lesbians Jamaican people of Chinese descent Lesbian feminists Lesbian poets African-American LGBTQ people Slam poets Womanists