Civic Poet 2023-24: Shin Yu Pai

Shin Yu Pai wearing a beanie and flannel. posing in front of a concrete wall.
Photo by James McDaniel

About Shin Yu Pai

Shin Yu Pai is a Seattle-based poet and the author of 11 books, including most recently No Neutral (Empty Bowl, 2023). She is the recipient of awards from the City of Seattle’s Office of Arts & Culture, 4Culture, and The Awesome Foundation. She is a 2022 Artist Trust Fellow and was shortlisted in 2014 for a Stranger Genius Award in Literature. From 2015 to 2017, Shin Yu served as Poet Laureate for The City of Redmond. Her nonfiction writing has appeared in Atlas Obscura, Tricycle Magazine, YES! Magazine, NYTimes, Zocalo Public Square, Seattle Met, ParentMap, Seattle’s Child, International Examiner, and South Seattle Emerald. Her work has appeared in publications throughout the U.S., Japan, China, Taiwan, the UK, and Canada.

Shin Yu Pai is creator and host of an award-winning, chart-topping podcast Ten Thousand Things (formerly The Blue Suit) for KUOW, Seattle’s NPR affiliate station.

Public Poetry Campaign

Map of installation locations in the bullet points below

On View for National Poetry Month 2024

April 1, 2024 - April 30, 2024

In 2023, Seattle Civic Poet, Shin Yu Pai invited public input on identifying and prioritizing the theme of a public poetry campaign. What emerged was a call for short poems on Seattle places relating to sustainability. She received 51 submissions from poets and selected five individuals for inclusion in the project.

Launching in April 2024 for National Poetry Month, the campaign features Seattle poets Kathya Alexander, Bryna Antonia (Á Thanh) Cortes, Cindy Luong, Joe Nasta, and Bryan Wilson in these locations across the city:

Seattle Public Library, downtown and South Park
Wa Na Wari
Friends of Little Saigon
Seattle Municipal Tower
Slide Gallery, Belltown
Bureau of Fearless Ideas

The campaign was designed by Jayme Yen, graphic designer and design teacher. Visual elements across sites vary and include postcards, posters, window clings, vinyl banners, cut-paper installation and a map of the featured sites.

This public poetry program is made possible by the Academy of American Poets with funds from the Mellon Foundation. This project was also supported by The Windrose Fund.