The Story
NAMED ONE OF LITERARY HUB'S "MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2026"
A poetic study in magical modes of connection over distance--how both friendship and reading are similar ways of being together while being alone.
Written over several years of solitude, study, and transformation, the poems in Perennial Counterpart trace an evolving, self-questioning practice of thinking-in-poetry where long, reflective lines--evoking both prose and photography--brush against elliptical, fractured modes of film and literary criticism. Anchored by the author's obsessive reading life, this is a book where lyric inquiry becomes its own form of company. Here, the poem is written to remake its writer through glittering connections to a personal lineage of thought.
Author: Yongyu Chen
Publisher: Nightboat Books
Published: 04/21/2026
Pages: 96
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.35lbs
Size: 8.90h x 5.90w x 0.40d
ISBN: 9781643623108
Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 03/16/2026
About the Author
Yongyu Chen lives in Cambridge, MA, and their work has appeared or is forthcoming in journals including The Paris Review, Poetry, and The White Review.
Description
NAMED ONE OF LITERARY HUB'S "MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2026"
A poetic study in magical modes of connection over distance--how both friendship and reading are similar ways of being together while being alone.
Written over several years of solitude, study, and transformation, the poems in Perennial Counterpart trace an evolving, self-questioning practice of thinking-in-poetry where long, reflective lines--evoking both prose and photography--brush against elliptical, fractured modes of film and literary criticism. Anchored by the author's obsessive reading life, this is a book where lyric inquiry becomes its own form of company. Here, the poem is written to remake its writer through glittering connections to a personal lineage of thought.
Author: Yongyu Chen
Publisher: Nightboat Books
Published: 04/21/2026
Pages: 96
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.35lbs
Size: 8.90h x 5.90w x 0.40d
ISBN: 9781643623108
Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 03/16/2026
About the Author
Yongyu Chen lives in Cambridge, MA, and their work has appeared or is forthcoming in journals including The Paris Review, Poetry, and The White Review.
