Emma Miao is a writer and editor from Vancouver, Canada. Her work is published in Gulf Coast, Frontier Poetry, Quarterly West, Atlanta Review, Cincinnati Review, Diode Poetry Journal, Permafrost, HOBART, and Subnivean. She is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Surging Tide, a literary journal and nonprofit organization that uplifts and celebrates genre-defying, experimental art.

Emma's book of poetry, Geography of Mothers, won the 2021 Frog Hollow Press Chapbook Contest. Two poems in the collection, "Fifty years after the war" and "Rabbits on the Balcony", won the Cincinnati Review and The Fiddlehead's annual poetry contests, respectively.

Music inspires and infuses into much of Emma's writing. Holding an ARCT in Piano Performance from the Royal Conservatory, she released an experimental spoken word EP, Oscillation, in 2021. She loves to improvise jazz and pop on her Yamaha in her spare time. She is a rising junior at Harvard University, where she studies Statistics and History & Literature, writes and edits for The Harvard Crimson, and helps build The Harvard Advocate.

Selected Poetry

Cincinnati Review — Fifty years after the war (Winner of the $1000 annual Adele and Robert Schiff Award. Spring 2022)
Gulf Coast — Ceremonies (February 2022)
Frontier Poetry — Smokescreens (August 2021)
Subnivean — Mistranslations, Boat Sonnet, Recovered Letter, Aubade, Tomato Sonnet (November 2021)
F(r)iction Lit — Portrait of a Girl Named July (Winner of the F(r)iction Spring Poetry Contest 2020. March 2021)
Hominum Journal — Exhibition (February 2021)
Quarterly West — War (August 2021)
West Trestle Review — Lifelines (August 2021)
Columba — Cytosome (January 2022)
Honey Literary — Ode to Animalism, Geography of Mothers (July 2021)
Permafrost Magazine — Double Sonnet for Tulips (print, May 2021)
beestung — Phantasm with Bones (May 2021)
HOBART — Dynasty (May 2021)
The Fiddlehead — Rabbits on the Balcony (Winner of the Ralph Gustafson Prize for Best Poem. Nominated for Best New Poets. March 2021)
Atlanta Review — Nanjing (Finalist in the 2020 Atlanta Review International Poetry Contest. Print. May 2021)
Diode Poetry Journal — Xiang River Soliloquy (November 2020)
Rust + Moth — Home is Where the Dandelions Grow (November 2020)
SCUM — Aubade for Larks in December (October 2020)
Poetry Society — The Belly of the Wolf (Commended in August Challenge #2 by Young Poets Network. September 2020)
Poetry Society — the lake is enough to blind you (3rd Place in Artlyst Ekphrastic Challenge. July 2020)
Pulitzer Centre for Crisis Reporting — double sonnet for education (Finalist in the Fighting Words Poetry Contest. July 2020)
The Fourth River — Mistranslations (January 2022)
Glass: A Journal of Poetry — Winter in Distillation (June 2020)
The Emerson Review — PS752 (print and online. April 2020)
Rising Phoenix Review — Unbecoming (April 2020)
Eunoia Review — Memories of the Yellow River (March 2020)

Interdisciplinary

Album Cover: tree grows out of three-dimensional pink triangle with curved lines that resemble soundwaves in background.

Oscillation (2021)

Poetry, to me, is a lush, vibrant ecosystem of rhythms, meters, polyphony. It's no surprise that music thrums at the heart of my work. Oscillation celebrates the magic that emerges at the intersection of genre, of music and poetry.

I created Oscillation as a COUNTERCLOCK Summer Arts Collective Fellow. Thank you to Sarah and all the folks at COUNTERCLOCK for creating such a welcoming space to collaborate and push the limits of creativity.

Welcome to an experimental, embodied musical experience. Welcome to Oscillation.

Geography of Mothers (2021)

Winner of the Frog Hollow 2021 Chapbook Contest | Cover design by Lisa Chun
Toronto Metropolitan University Review

Honors

2021

  • Winner, Cincinnati Review 2021 Robert and Adele Schiff Award for Poetry

  • Best New Poets Nomination (The Fiddlehead)

  • Winner, 2021 Frog Hollow Press Chapbook Contest for "Geography of Mothers"

  • Winner, The Fiddlehead Ralph Gustafson Poetry Prize for Best Poem for "Rabbits on the Balcony"

  • Interview for Ralph Gustafson Poetry Prize

  • Honorable Mention, Nancy Thorp Poetry Prize

  • Regional Winner, National Scholastic Art & Writing Awards

2020

  • Finalist, Atlanta Review International Poetry Competition

  • Commended, Poetry Society UK Fairy Tale Challenge

  • Runner Up, Robert Graves Youth Poetry Prize

  • Winner, F(r)iction Lit Spring Poetry Contest for "Portrait of a Girl Named July," selected by Devin Kelly

  • Finalist, Yemassee Poetry Contest

  • Finalist, Gigantic Teen Sequins

  • Finalist, Pulitzer Center Fighting Words International Poetry Contest for "double sonnet for education"

  • 3rd Place, Art to Poetry International Youth Poetry Prize for "the lake is enough to blind you"

  • Best Original Poem under 16, Vancouver Speech and Drama Festival for "PS752"

  • Champion, Poetry in Voice School Competition

2019

  • Commended, Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award, selected by Jackie Kay and Raymond Antrobus

Oscillation (2021)

Album Cover: tree grows out of three-dimensional pink triangle with curved lines that resemble soundwaves in background.

Poetry, to me, is a lush, vibrant ecosystem of rhythms, meters, polyphony. It's no surprise that music thrums at the heart of my work. Oscillation celebrates the magic that emerges at the intersection of genre, of music and poetry.

I created Oscillation as a COUNTERCLOCK Summer Arts Collective Fellow. Thank you to Sarah and all the folks at COUNTERCLOCK for creating such a welcoming space to collaborate and push the limits of creativity.

Welcome to an experimental, embodied musical experience. Welcome to Oscillation.

Experience

editorial

readings

education

  • Mentee, Iowa Young Writers' Studio, under Janelle Effiwatt (2020)

  • Mentee, Adroit Journal Summer Mentorship, under Dorothy Chan (2020)

  • Mentee, Incandescent Review Poetry Mentorship, under Lydia Wei (2020)

  • Independent Fellow, COUNTERCLOCK Arts Collective, under Michael Frazier & Grace Coberly (2020) — Created Oscillation

  • Mentee, Iowa Young Writers' Studio 2021

Contact

Curious about my work? Want to start a conversation? Contact me! I'm happy to chat about all things literature.

Need writing feedback? I can help you share your story vibrantly and authentically. Good writing is clear, cohesive, and impact-driven. I offer college essay consulting, creative writing coaching, and general editing services over Zoom and Google Meets to help you elevate your writing to the next level.

Why me? I believe wholeheartedly that writing helped me earn admission at every school I applied to: Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Emory (full-ride), and McGill (full ride).

My rates start at $100/hour and vary with complexity. Contact me to get started.