Paper Dolls

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, winner of the 2022 Cy Twombly Award for Poetry, and author of More Than Organs, a Lambda Literary Finalist & Stonewall Honor Award Book.