Writer & spoken word artist
Mississauga Youth Poet Laureate
Greater Toronto Area
Artist bio
Lisa Shen is a writer and spoken word artist, and the 2023-2025 Youth Poet Laureate of the City of Mississauga. Her work centers on feminism, Chinese-Canadian heritage, disability, and queer love.
Lisa is the winner of the 2024 Lillian Allen Emerging Artist Prize and 2022 Buddies Queer Emerging Artists Award, and was shortlisted for the 2023 League of Canadian Poets Spoken Word Award. She placed second in the country at the 2023 Canadian Individual Poetry Slam. She has toured across North America, from California to New York. Her performance has been featured by CBC Radio, TEDx, and Pride Toronto.
Lisa is the winner of the 2024 ERA Literary Theme Award and 2020 May Open Drawer Poetry Contest. Her work is published with Rattle, Zoeglossia, Voicemail Poems, and more. Her debut chapbook A Story Ending in Redwoods is out now with Anstruther Press.