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Justin Chin

Justin Chin
Justin Chin by Kevin Killian.jpg
Portrait of Justin Chin
by Kevin Killian (Jan. 6 2006)
Born Malaysia
Died 24 December 2015(2015-12-24)
San Francisco
Occupation poet, essayist, performer
Language English
Nationality American
Ethnicity Malaysian
Education University of Hawaii at Manoa
Genre Queer literature, Poetry slam
Notable works Bite Hard, Mongrel, Harmless Medicine, Gutted, 98 Wounds
Notable awards Thom Gunn Award

Justin Chin (1969-2015) was a Malaysian-American poet, essayist and performer. In his work he often dealt with queer Asian-American identity and interrogated this category's personal and political circumstances.

Chin was born in Malaysia and was raised in Singapore by his parents of whom his father was a Christian physician and had high expectations for his son. After graduating from school in Singapore he left home and enrolled at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

As a freshman, he signed up for Intro to Creative Writing which was an important turn for his development as a writer. Faye Kicknosway, who is a poet and visual artist, was teaching this class and she became an important figure in Chin's early career. She encouraged him to write and introduced him to R. Zamora Linmark and Lisa Asagi, who remained important supporters of his art throughout his life. In 1990 Justin Chin attended the first Outwrite Conference in San Francisco with economic support from the faculty advisor to the university's gay and lesbian group. About this experience Justin Chin wrote: "Being at that conference showed me what was possible, that I could find myself in a continuum, a lineage that was grad and literary, that needed no elucidation or defense, no vindication or apologia."

After the conference, in 1991, he moved to San Francisco where he took residence for the rest of his life, which tragically ended on December 24, 2015 with a stroke, related to complications of AIDS. He transferred to the journalistic program at San Francisco State University. Shortly after moving to San Francisco he started writing poems, essays, fiction and performance pieces to express his opinions in a less limited media. In 1995 and 1996 he became a member of the San Francisco National Poetry Slam team. In 1996 he was also awarded a "Goldie" "for the distinction of his spoken word performances".


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