Derek Chan

I was quite shy but at Yarra, I came out of my shell and integrated quickly.

Currently, home for Derek Chan is far from Melbourne’s eastern suburbs and the Yarra campus. He is based at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, where he is a Masters student in the Creative Writing Program.

Writing, and particularly poetry, have been an important influence on Derek’s life since he was in primary school and after graduating from Yarra, he attained a First-Class Honours in Literary Studies from Monash University.

“I had an innate interest in stories and language from early on. I was a big reader and remember my teachers encouraging me to keep writing,” says Derek.

He says formative moments in his writing occurred within school. Derek joined Yarra in Year 5 and remembers interesting creative writing assignments and then the discovery of the work of TS Eliot in Year 12.

“He was the first modernist poet I studied, and the complete breakdown of language from traditional formulas was so compelling and freeing. I’d never considered poetry could be like that,” says Derek.

Derek has many positive memories like this of his time at Yarra. He was a keen athlete and found being out on the track was a way to make new friends and strengthen bonds.

“I enjoyed training sessions with peers and that camaraderie. Most of my lunchtime was spent playing soccer with friends although later on in high school I spent more time in the library.”

At the end of Year 12, despite his passion and talent for Literature and writing, Derek was pulled in different career directions.

“I was confused during my first year at uni and I tried things I hadn’t studied before – it was an experimental year. I wrote in my own time but relegated it more to being a hobby because I wondered how I could write for a living and get things published. It felt too big a leap to take at that time.”

Towards the end of his third or fourth year of study, Derek took a short fiction class and then an introduction to poetry and he decided to pursue his passion. He chose Cornell University to develop his craft.

He combines his studies with editing a literary journal.

“I want to keep writing and publishing poetry and I hope to teach. I’d like to work in academia and continue to stay in conversation with other writers and readers. Although I miss my parents, friends, and the Australian landscape, I also really like the literary landscape in America and many of my favourite writers and publishers are based in New York” he says.