emma miao

Emma Miao is a poet, editor, and pianist from Vancouver, BC, Canada. She is a commended Foyle Young Poet of the Year, and her work is published in Frontier Poetry, Atlanta Review, Diode Poetry Journal, HOBART, Cosmonauts Avenue, Glass: A Journal of Poetry, Up the Staircase Quarterly, Permafrost Magazine, and The Emerson Review. She is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Surging Tide Magazine and serves on the editorial staff of Up the Staircase Quarterly and EX/POST Magazine.
Her chapbook, "Geography of Mothers," won the Frog Hollow Press Chapbook Contest and will be published in 2021. Her poem "Rabbits on the Balcony" won The Fiddlehead's 2021 Ralph Gustafson Prize for Best Poem. She is the winner of the F(r)iction Poetry Contest 2020, a finalist for the Pulitzer Centre's Poetry Contest, Atlanta Review International Poetry Contest, and Yemassee Poetry Prize, and a winner of several contests by The Poetry Society.
In addition to writing, Emma holds an ARCT in Piano Performance from the Royal Conservatory of Music, and is a 2018 Tom Lee International Award of Excellence Winner and scholarship recipient, CMC National Finalist, and Crescendo Competition Winner. She has played in Vienna and New York, and she opened for Chinese singer Sun Nan's concert in Vancouver. Her spoken word + piano EP, Oscillation, was published January 2021. She was born in 2004.
selected poems
forthcoming
Frontier Poetry — Smokescreens (May 2021)
Permafrost Magazine — Double Sonnet for Tulips (May 2021)
beestung — Phantasm With Bones (Spring 2021)
HOBART — Dynasty (May 2021)
Honey Literary — Geography of Mothers, Self-Portrait in a Houseparty Bathroom, Ode to Animalism (August 2021)
Cosmonauts Avenue — attic-searching, Nanjing (2021)
published
The Fiddlehead — Rabbits on the Balcony (Winner of the Ralph Gustafson Prize for Best Poem. March 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)
Atlanta Review — Nanjing (Finalist in the 2020 Atlanta Review International Poetry Contest. Print. May 2021)
Plum Recruit — Rhapsody with Body Parts (December 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)
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)
Geography of Mothers: Chapbook (2021)
Winner of the Frog Hollow 2021 Chapbook Contest
Includes poems "Portrait of a Girl Named July," "Nanjing," "Exhibition," and "Rabbits on the Balcony"
ISBN 978-1-989946-16-9
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"Give me a river and I will swallow it whole.
Give me a mirror and I will become the predator.
We are the vessels of so many lies."
— "Rabbits on the Balcony,"
Winner of the 2021 Ralph Gustafson Prize for Best Poem
honors
2021
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
Champion, Poetry in Voice School Competition
Champion, West Coast Festival for the Performing Arts
Oscillation: EP (2021)
"Sunrise Kingdom" on COUNTERCLOCK Fellowship Cover Page
Published on Apple Music, Spotify, Soundcloud
Oscillation examines the intersections between poetry and music. Much of poetry is derived or inspired by music (rhythm, meter, polyphony) — Oscillation highlights that by pressing poetry and music against each other. A magic exists between these noteheads, these words. The term oscillation implies duality, or one thing depending on another to move forward; likewise, poetry & music oscillate in this album space to create an efflorescent listening experience. I created Oscillation in the COUNTERCLOCK Arts Collective Summer 2020, where I met incredibly talented and kind artists, learned new techniques from mentors, and collaborated on ideas with my cohort of fellow artists.
Welcome to Oscillation. I can't wait for you to dive in.
experience
editorial
Surging Tide Magazine, Founder & Editor-in-Chief
Up the Staircase Quarterly, Poetry Reader
EX/POST Magazine, Poetry Reader
readings
Sine Theta Magazine Online Reading May 18th, 2020
Poetry Society UK Reading "the lake is enough to blind you"
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) — Project: Oscillation
Mentee, Iowa Young Writers' Studio 2021
contact
I would love to do readings, workshops, and other events.
I can also talk endlessly about Anne Carson, Erik Satie, and/or Monty Python.
Drop me a line! :)
Or email me: emmamiaowrites [at] gmail [dot] com