Born in Beijing, Gavin Yuan Gao is a genderqueer, bilingual immigrant poet who grew up in Beijing and Brisbane. They hold a BA (magna cum laude) in English Literature and Creative Writing from The University of Michigan— Ann Arbor. They live in Brisbane and read poetry for The Adroit Journal.

At the Altar of Touch is their first book.

Winner of the 2020 Arts Queensland Thomas Shapcott Award, Gavin Yuan Gao, The judges stated: ‘Richly allusive, balancing adventure and quiet, these poems hum to one another, loss and gain their part and counterpart. Their astounding images hurtle around the poems’ corners, or slip quietly between lines. Together, these poems weigh violence and tenderness, wound and cure, history and future in their scintillating and exhilarating collection.’