Wed 3 Jun, 6-7pm
In this first full-length collection, Jennifer Lee Tsai explores family history, intergenerational trauma, love, loss, and belonging through the lens of a second-generation British Chinese identity. Melete weaves together dual cultures and heritages through narratives of memory, migration, and mysticism, spanning Liverpool, China, and Hong Kong. This expansive collection establishes a powerfully distinctive lyric voice in contemporary British poetry.
Jennifer will be joined by fellow Bloodaxe poet and Costa Book of the Year Poetry Award winner Hannah Lowe.
We are delighted to celebrate the launch of this book, which will include readings from Jennifer and Hannah, followed by a conversation with arts curator and host Marie-Anne McQuay.
This event is presented in partnership with the Centre for New and International Writing, University of Liverpool.
£2-£5 (£15 including book)
Jennifer Lee Tsai
Jennifer Lee Tsai is an award-winning poet, writer and teacher. She was born in Bebington and grew up in Liverpool. She is a fellow of The Complete Works, a Ledbury Poetry Critic and a former Contributing Editor to Ambit. Her poetry and literary criticism are widely featured in publications including The Guardian, The Poetry Review, Poetry London, The Telegraph, The TLS & The White Review as well as on BBC Radio 4.
She is the author of two poetry pamphlets, Kismet (ignitionpress, 2019) and La Mystérique (Guillemot Press, 2022). Jennifer has received a Northern Writers Award for Poetry and is a winner of the Rebecca Swift Foundation’s Women Poets’ Prize. She has worked extensively as a lecturer and teacher of English to students in universities and colleges as well as within community settings. She is an AHRC Doctoral student in Creative Writing at the University of Liverpool and an Artist in Residence at the Bluecoat.
Her first full-length poetry collection, Melete, is forthcoming with Bloodaxe in May 2026.
Hannah Lowe
Hannah Lowe is a poet, memoirist, and academic. Her most recent book, The Kids, won both the Costa Poetry Award and the Costa Book of the Year in 2021. Her first poetry collection, Chick (Bloodaxe, 2013), won the Michael Murphy Memorial Award for Best First Collection.
She is an Honorary Professor of Creative Writing at Brunel University and founder of Writing Otherwise. Her memoir, The Woman in the Chinese Collar, is due for publication in February 2027.
