How is poetry classified as Hong Kong poetry? Records of poets writing in Chinese in Hong Kong date back to the 1940s. What about poetry written in English? From Auden’s oriental view of Hong Kong during the Second Sino-Japanese War to Blunden’s writing during his professorship at the University of Hong Kong, and the debuts of ethnically Chinese poets in the 1970s and subsequent decades, there were comparable and sometimes overlapping developments in the Anglophone poetry scene in Hong Kong. More recently, with the emergence of an expanding diasporic group of young poets who have received major literary recognition, including Eric Yip, the youngest winner of the UK’s National Poetry Competition, Hong Kong Anglophone poetry has begun to emerge from various literary peripheries. This paper investigates the emergence of a body of Hong Kong Anglophone poetry, tracing its origins and charting its key developments to date. In doing so, it spotlights a once-overlooked, young tradition that is growing in momentum and visibility.

Antony Huen directs the MFA in Creative Writing in the School of English at the University of Hong Kong. He specialises in contemporary poetry, with a special focus on transcultural and transmedia contexts. He received the Award for Young Artist (Arts Criticism) from the Hong Kong Arts Development Council in 2025. He was the winner of the inaugural essay prize of Wasafiri: International Contemporary Writing in 2022 and runner-up for that of Women: A Cultural Review in 2023. He was also shortlisted for the Poetry London Pamphlet Prize in 2023. He holds a PhD in English from the University of York.