Tess Liem Explained

Tess Liem or T. Liem is a Canadian poet from Montreal, Quebec, who published their debut poetry collection Obits in 2018.^[1] The book was named one of the year's best Canadian poetry collections by CBC Arts,^[2] and won the Gerald Lampert Award from the League of Canadian Poets in 2019.^[3]

The book was also nominated for a Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Poetry at the 31st Lambda Literary Awards,^[4] and was longlisted for the Pat Lowther Award.^[5]

Liem's second collection, Slows: Twice, was published in 2023 by Coach House Books. Reviewing the collection for Montreal Review of Books, Salena Wiener called Slows: Twice "chock-full of versions, inversions, and revisions of the self." The collection as its central image the mirror, which is replicated formally by the second half of the collection being a mirror image of the first.^[6] Sylee Gore, for Poetry, praised the book's formal inventiveness as well as its "poised and raw" tone.^[7]

Notes and References

1. https://quillandquire.com/review/amateurs-at-love/ "Reviews: Amateurs at Love, Obits, Ruba’iyat for the Time of Apricots"
2. https://www.cbc.ca/books/the-best-canadian-poetry-of-2018-1.4945337 "The best Canadian poetry of 2018"
3. https://quillandquire.com/omni/tess-liem-stevie-howell-win-2019-book-awards-for-poetry/ "Tess Liem, Stevie Howell win 2019 Book Awards for poetry"
4. https://quillandquire.com/omni/vivek-shraya-joshua-whitehead-among-10-canadian-finalists-for-lambda-literary-awards/ "Vivek Shraya, Joshua Whitehead among Canadian finalists for Lambda Literary Awards"
5. https://quillandquire.com/omni/league-of-canadian-poets-announces-2019-book-awards-longlists/ "League of Canadian Poets announces 2019 Book Awards longlists"
6. Web site: Slows: Twice • Montreal Review of Books . 2023-08-11 . Montreal Review of Books . en-CA.
7. Web site: Foundation . Poetry . 2023-08-11 . Review: Slows Twice . 2023-08-11 . Poetry Foundation . en.