Writer & spoken word artist

Lisa Shen is a writer and spoken word artist, and the 2023-2025 Youth Poet Laureate of the City of Mississauga. Her work centres on feminism and girlhood, with secondary focuses on Chinese-Canadian identity, disability, and queer love. 

Lisa placed second in the country at the 2023 Canadian Individual Poetry Slam. She is the winner of the 2021 Mississauga Poetry Slam and the May 2020 Open Drawer Poetry Contest. She is also a TEDx Speaker. She has performed at venues across North America, from California to Toronto. Her work has been featured by CBC Radio, Rattle, and Voicemail Poems. 

Lisa is the Director of Sauga Poetry, Mississauga’s hub for spoken word. She has taught poetry courses with Workman Arts and JAYU and led workshops in high schools across Ontario. She was awarded the 2022 Buddies Queer Emerging Artists Award, and is dedicated to uplifting spoken word across the Greater Toronto Area.