Biography
Zhang Er is a multi-talented poet, scientist, and teacher. She trained as a physician in Beijing China before moving to New York City in 1986 to study at Cornell University. Zhang received her Ph.D. in Molecular Pharmacology in 1992 while getting involved in the New York poetry scene, hosting bilingual readings, writing poetry, and editing literary journals. She is the author of five collections of poetry in Chinese, most recently First Mountain (2018, Zephyr Press). Ever the creative intellectual, Zhang also translates poetry and has also spent the last 10 years studying contemporary operatic work as well as writing her own librettos. She won Female Poet of the Year 2013, Oversea Chinese Poetry (Ontario, Canada), and the Coastide Magazine Chinese Poetry Contest Award, NYC in 2002. She currently teaches both Medical Sciences and Chinese Poetry and Cultural Studies at The Evergreen State College in Washington.