The Seattle Department of Arts and Culture (ARTS), in partnership with the Seattle City of Literature, Thin Yu Pie 2023-2024 Seattle Citizen Poet. Pai is his fourth citizen poet in the program’s history.
The Seattle Civic Poet is a two-year resident and literary ambassador for Seattle. Citizen poet Xin Yu Pai serves as a cultural ambassador for Seattle’s rich and colorful literary landscape and represents Seattle’s diverse cultural community.
“Newly appointed Seattle Citizen Poet of 2023-2024, Hsin Yu Pai is a seasoned local poet who brings diverse experience, connections and sector knowledge to the Citizen Poet Commission. Published author, reader, manager, curator, and moderator, she works with both Seattle’s countless creative and community organizations.”
Royal Alley Burns, Acting Director of the Arts and Culture Bureau
“As the first Asian-American poet to serve as a civic poet, I am thrilled to work with Seattle’s diverse cultural community to create a project that celebrates the expression of poetry across the city. We see it as a powerful platform for amplifying the work of the many talented poets who live and work together in the City of Literature.As a former Poet Laureate of the City of Redmond, I am committed to working with the city to create a poetry-based public We developed an art project to elevate poetry through curated public programming and outdoor revitalization of public spaces, and we can’t wait to do the same in Seattle.”
Thin Yu Pie
This role promotes community dialogue and engagement among the city, the public, and other artists while celebrating the literary arts. Previous civic poets include Jordan Imani Keith (2019-22), Anastasia Lenny Tolbert (2017-19) and Claudia Castro Luna (2015-17).
Shin Yu Pai is a Seattle-based poet and author of 11 books, including the recent Virga (Empty Bowl, 2021). She has received awards from the City of Seattle Department of Arts and Culture, 4Culture and The Awesome Foundation. She is a 2022 Artists Trust Her Fellow and in 2014 she was shortlisted for the Stranger Genius Award in Literature. From 2015 until 2017, she served as Poet Laureate of the City of Redmond. Her non-fiction writings have been published in her Atlas Obscura, Tricycle Magazine, and YES!. Magazine, NYTimes, Zocalo Public Square, Seattle Met, ParentMap, Seattle’s Child, International Examiner, and South Seattle Emerald. Her work has appeared in publications in the US, Japan, China, Taiwan, UK and Canada.
Shin Yu is the writer, host and producer of The Blue Suit, an Asian-American podcast for KUOW Public Radio, an NPR affiliate in Seattle. The Blue Suit will begin in July 2022 and is currently in production for its second season with episodes beginning to release in May 2023.
A new book of poetry will be published in 2023 by Empty Bowl Press and Blue Cactus Press.
Launched in 2015, the Seattle Citizen Poet Program is inspired by the previous Poet Populist Program launched in 1999 by former Seattle City Councilman Nick Licata. The goal of Poet’s Populist Program was to support literary and democratic practices and to promote local literary groups to general audiences throughout the city. The Poet Populist Program was discontinued in 2008. The Civic Populist Program continues the legacy of the Poet Populist Program by fostering community dialogue and engagement between the public and artists while celebrating the literary arts.
