Paper Dolls by Kaitlin Hsu (PRE-ORDER)
THIS IS A PRE-ORDER TITLE. Titles generally ship one week before their publication date. This title's publication date is September 24, 2026.
Paper Dolls
Bridges Series #2
Curated by Kay Ulanday Barrett
Copyright © 2026 by Kaitlin Hsu
ISBN: 979-8-950353-03-1
Retail Price: $15.00
Publication Date: September 25, 2026
Chapbook; 6 x 9” Paperback; 44 Pages
Distributed by Ingram and Sibling Rivalry Press
Author is available for appearances and interviews
Publisher Contact: [email protected]
Trade, library, and educational discounts available
Desk copies available for educators
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Keywords: Lesbian Poetry, Queer Poetry, LGBTQ+ Voices, Asian American Poetry, Chinese American Poetry, Queer Asian American Literature, Lesbian Poetry, Chinese Diaspora, Intergenerational Family and Identity, Bilingual and Multilingual Poetry, Gender, Womanhood and Desire, Experimental and Visual Poetry, Pop Culture, and Contemporary Poetry
PAPER DOLLS is a dazzling debut that reimagines the lyric poem through personality quizzes, crossword puzzles, fashion magazines, language lessons, and slumber parties. Blending English, Chinese, pop culture, and queer longing, Kaitlin Hsu explores what it means to inherit a language, build an identity, and love across generations. Tender, playful, and formally inventive, these poems transform the fragments that shape us into something wholly new, revealing that translation is not merely about words, but about becoming.
PAPER DOLLS is the second of the Bridges Series, hosted by Sibling Rivalry Press, an annual chapbook series curated each year by a different poet invited to serve as guest editor and curator. Each curator selects four authors whose chapbooks will be published by Sibling Rivalry Press, creating space for new voices, unexpected conversations, and vibrant literary community. Rooted in SRP's core belief that poetry builds bridges and saves lives, the series seeks to connect writers across identities, geographies, generations, and experiences while championing work that is fearless and transformative. The 2026 curator is Kay Ulanday Barrett.
Of PAPER DOLLS, Ulanday Barrett says, "Kaitlin Hsu designs a rich, multi-layered, complex, and inventive debut. It is an absolute journey traversing space, puzzles, language, and borders with a conversational dexterity that upends intergenerational reflections and what it means to be Queer and Chinese. Analytical and rigorous, these poems propel storytelling in constant motion. Hsu’s poetic visuals alone are absorbing. Hsu composes motifs of pop culture, culinary traditions, pastorals, family patterns, womanhood, grief, humor, and intimacy, with a dynamic, singular artistry. The range of style and story steers readers into a dizzying pirouette in the best way possible. The level of play and voyaging challenges norms and power in ways that feel refreshing. Paper Dolls will leave you with more questions, more aches, more pathways, and more generative possibilities than your imagination thought possible!"
KAITLIN HSU 徐欣 (she/她) is a 2025 Lambda Literary Fellow and 2024 Margins Fellow at the Asian American Writers' Workshop. Her work can be found in A Public Space, Poet Lore, Peach Mag, and more. She has also received support from Brooklyn Poets, Tin House, the Mendocino Coast Writers Conference, and genARTS Silicon Valley. She currently works at Kaya Press as an associate editor and freelances as a crossword constructor. Find her on Instagram as @kaitlinhsu or on X as @hsuperemo.