Cindy Tran graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from UCLA. Her writing career began unconventionally, crafting verse reviews of local businesses while supporting herself through administrative roles. Over the past eight years, she has honed her craft through writing workshops and fellowships at institutions such as The Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis, Brooklyn Poets, Poets House, Cave Canem, 92Y, and The Poetry Project.
Her work has appeared in approximately a dozen respected literary magazines, including The Southern Review, Copper Nickel, and Poetry Northwest. In 2021, she reached two significant milestones: winning a prize from Thornwillow Press to publish a letterpress chapbook, and creating a pandemic-era poetry film about small businesses, commissioned by The Shed in New York City. Currently, she is halfway through a book-length manuscript exploring family estrangement and forgiveness, blending personal experiences with research. This project marks a shift from publishing individual poems to developing a longer, more cohesive collection that sustains complex themes about the language of family.