Exploring the Life and Poems of Li Qingzhao

through Poetry Readings and Origami

UNLV professor Wendy Chen will read a selection of Li Qingzhao's poems from the newly-released collection The Magpie at Night (FSG, 2025) and speak about the poet's incredible life and poems.

The Song-dynasty writer Li Qingzhao (1084-1151) is considered the greatest woman poet in Chinese history. During her lifetime, she defied cultural expectations for women by writing and persevering through war, exile, imprisonment, and the loss of her fortune. 

Participants will hear about the importance of the natural world in classical Chinese poetry, while learning to fold origami inspired by the birds, flowers, and landscapes in Li Qingzhao's poetry. 

About the presenter:

Wendy Chen is the author of the novel Their Divine Fires (Algonquin) and the poetry collection Unearthings (Tavern Books). Her poetry translations of Song-dynasty woman writer Li Qingzhao are published in The Magpie at Night from Farrar, Straus & Giroux. She is the editor of Figure 1, associate editor-in-chief of Tupelo Quarterly, and prose editor of Tupelo Press. She earned her MFA in poetry from Syracuse University and her PhD in English from the University of Denver. She is an assistant professor of creative writing at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

This program is presented in partnership with Nevada Humanities. Visit their website here. 

Free and open to the public. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis and may be limited. For more information, call 702-507-3863.

Upcoming events