Letitia Chan ’17 is one of 15 student writers to win top honors in the 2016 Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award for her poem “Making Glutinous Dumplings with My Mother.” Letitia’s poem was selected from among 10,000 entries submitted by 6,000 students from around the world.
“Making Glutinous Dumplings with My Mother” is a piece Letitia developed in last spring’s Advanced Creative Writing class with Lisa Baker. She learned about the Foyle Award competition, which is hosted by The Poetry Society of London, from her mentor at Adroit Journal’s summer online program, which pairs experienced writers with students.
“The poem starts with an image of making dumplings with my mother, and I connected that with the dynamics of a mother-daughter relationship, particularly when you return home after living away at school,” says Letitia, who came to Milton from Hong Kong.
This is not the first time that Letitia’s work has received recognition. Last year, her collection of poems earned a first-place Bennington College Young Writers Award. She was also runner-up last year in the Nancy Thorp Poetry Contest, another national competition.
Letitia says that her work has grown more personal over the years. “I’m interested in writing about uncomfortable relationships—how you are as a teenager and how your relationship with your parents can change,” she says. “Some of my real life is reflected in my work, but there are also many parts of my poetry that do not reflect my real life.”