Jami Proctor Xu is a bilingual poet, translator, international poetry event curator, and mother who divides her time between Arizona, New York, and China. Her poetry, essays, articles, and translations have appeared in anthologies and literary journals across the United States, China, South Korea, Bangladesh, India, Colombia, and beyond. She has participated in major international poetry festivals throughout North America, South America, Asia, and Africa.
From 2008 to 2010, Jami served as a visiting scholar at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. In recognition of her contribution to Chinese literature, she received the prestigious Zhujiang Poetry Award in 2013, honoring a non-Chinese poet whose work has significantly fostered literary exchange. Since 2016, she has co-organized international poetry events and translation workshops at the Beijing Normal University International Writing Center, while also helping curate poetry festivals in South Africa and Eswatini.
Jami’s acclaimed translations have earned international recognition. In 2020, she received the Northern California Book Award for Poetry in Translation for her translation of Song Lin’s Sunday Sparrows. Her translation of Jidi Majia’s Split Open Planet was honored with the Bo’Ao International Poetry Translation Award.
Her published books include the Chinese chapbook Shimmers (EMS, 2013), the English chapbook Hummingbird Ignites a Star (2014), and the Chinese-language poetry collection Suddenly Starting to Dance (Wings, 2016). She is currently co-translating Anne Waldman’s Manatee/Humanity into Chinese. Her forthcoming poetry collection, Kali and the Two Suns, will be published by Nirala Press.