As part of The Pixel Project’s Read For Pixels campaign, we interview authors and poets from genres as diverse as Science Fiction and Fantasy to Romance to Horror about why they support the movement to end violence against women and girls.
For Domestic Violence Awareness Month 2025, we present an interview with Read For Pixels poet Ai Jiang who contributed her original poem A House Unhaunted to our 1st charity poetry collection, UNDER HER EYE. Ai Jiang is a Chinese-Canadian writer, Ignyte, Bram Stoker, and Nebula Award winner, and Hugo, Astounding, Locus, Aurora, and BFSA Award finalist from Changle, Fujian currently residing in Toronto, Ontario. She is the author of A Palace Near the Wind, Linghun, and I AM AI. Find her at www.aijiang.ca
Inspired to support The Pixel Project’s anti-violence against women work? Make a donation to us today OR buy our 1st poetry collection, UNDER HER EYE, that is published in partnership with Black Spot Books. All donations and net proceeds from book sales go towards supporting our campaigns, programmes, and initiatives.
1. Why is ending violence against women important to you and why did you decide to support The Pixel Project by contributing your poem ‘A House Unhaunted’ to UNDER HER EYE which is The Pixel Project’s first charity poetry collection published in partnership with Black Spot Books?
Ending violence against women is important to me because there are so many instances of unspoken victimhood that are hidden, and sometimes, within the very homes and relationships that were supposed to be seemingly safe and provide protection yet act as prisons and confinements of silence. I wrote this poem to illuminate the ways that men might manipulate women into questioning their own perceptions and the injustices of such behaviour and the vicious cycles it allows to fester, making it increasingly difficult to break out of.
2. What do you think poets can do to help with the cultural change needed to stop violence against women and girls?
I think the innate nature of poetry is its vulnerability, and with the growing number of poets who have stepped forward, voicing their own experiences and the injustices they have suffered through poetry, the ways they have tried to unpack, reconcile, and move towards healing, helps empower those who felt alone in their struggles and found it difficult, even futile, in trying to break free from cycles of violence. Poets present both narratives of connection but also help foster the potential of a safer future for women and girls through collective support.
3. Any final thoughts about why everyone should support stopping violence against women?
There is already so much unkindness in the world, and stopping violence against women is only one of the many steps we’ll need to take towards creating a safer society for future generations to come.
Listen to Ai discussing poetry, feminism, and violence against women here: