CINDY TRAN / Poet
NYC-BASED writer and Artist
Cindy Tran is the author of the poetry collection Sonnet Crown for NYC (2021), winner of the Thornwillow Patrons’ Prize, and is the creator of a short film by the same name. A recipient of fellowships from NYSCA/NYFA, The Poetry Project, The Loft Literary Center, and Brooklyn Poets, her work has been presented at The Shed, Lincoln Center, and the BBC. Cindy’s poems appear in The Southern Review, Copper Nickel, Poetry Northwest, and elsewhere.
Her short film was an Official Selection at the Asian American International Film Festival—which won the Audience Award—and the Korean Film Festival of New York.
Cindy has received support from Art Omi, Asian Women Giving Circle, Bread Loaf/Rona Jaffe, Cave Canem, Monson Arts, Poets House, and Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Her poetry has been nominated for Best of the Net, Best New Poets, and the Pushcart Prize.
In her free time, Cindy writes Yelp reviews, hoping someone will search for a pork sandwich, and find her poem about sandwiches and racism.
She teaches poetry workshops, serves on the board of The Rumpus, and lives in New York City.
Photo: Vince Cai
Sonnet Crown for NYC
From beginning to end, “Sonnet Crown for NYC” is an intimate celebration of New York City. Its 15 interwoven sonnets are rooted in Tran’s own interviews with business owners across all five boroughs. Though each of the business owners was impacted differently by the pandemic, what they share in common is their constant work to support their families and serve their communities.
The wonder of “Sonnet Crown” is the way Tran weaves these distinct voices into a unified “crown” without losing the individual spirit inherent in each sonnet. This collection entrusts the reader with her full attention to private stories, languages, and a complex rhyme scheme to travel through the many moving unknowns of our lives.
Brooklyn Poets Workshops
I teach Zoom and in-person workshops in Brooklyn Heights. Classes are announced each season.
The Mother/Father Poem
The Protest Poem
The Visual Art Poem
The Nude Poem
My students have gone on to publish the poems they wrote in my classes in Oxford Poetry, Florida Review, Indiana Review, Up the Staircase Quarterly, Colorado Review, and other literary magazines.
