Jen Cheng

Jen Cheng is from the San Francisco Bay Area and is the eldest daughter of immigrants from Hong Kong. She is the author of the poetry collection Braided Spaces (Wokelicious Press, 2023). Her writing can also be found in Passengers Journal and The Cafe Review, among other publications.

Before her creative writing career, Cheng published as an economist and was selected as a nonprofit management fellow at the University of Michigan with a master's degree in public policy. As a teaching artist, Cheng has taught at Los Angeles LGBT Center, UCLA Extension, The Loft Literary Center, Tin House, and at various libraries and community centers. As a freelance educator, she facilitates classes on a range of topics, including theater improvisation, wellness, and music. Her poetry performances have taken place at the New York City Poetry Festival, Grand Performances, and grassroots events. Cheng is the creator and facilitator of Palabras Literary Salon, a BIPOC-centered series. She also designed the interactive sculpture, Poetry Scrabble, to engage audiences with word tiles for a collaborative poem. 

Cheng is a long-time resident of West Hollywood, where she serves as the fifth poet laureate through 2026.