diff --git a/ipykernel/subshell_manager.py b/ipykernel/subshell_manager.py
index e91ec636..00809c7f 100644
--- a/ipykernel/subshell_manager.py
+++ b/ipykernel/subshell_manager.py
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 
 import zmq
 import zmq.asyncio
-from anyio import Event, create_task_group
+from anyio import create_memory_object_stream, create_task_group
 
 from .subshell import SubshellThread
 
@@ -50,14 +50,17 @@ def __init__(self, context: zmq.asyncio.Context, shell_socket):
         self._parent_shell_channel_socket = self._create_inproc_pair_socket(None, True)
         self._parent_other_socket = self._create_inproc_pair_socket(None, False)
 
-        self._poller = zmq.asyncio.Poller()
-        self._poller.register(self._parent_shell_channel_socket, zmq.POLLIN)
-        self._subshell_change = Event()
+        # anyio memory object stream for async queue-like communication between tasks.
+        # Used by _create_subshell to tell listen_from_subshells to spawn a new task.
+        self._send_stream, self._receive_stream = create_memory_object_stream[str]()
 
     def close(self):
         """Stop all subshells and close all resources."""
         assert current_thread().name == "Shell channel"
 
+        self._send_stream.close()
+        self._receive_stream.close()
+
         for socket in (
             self._control_shell_channel_socket,
             self._control_other_socket,
@@ -126,14 +129,10 @@ async def listen_from_subshells(self):
         """
         assert current_thread().name == "Shell channel"
 
-        while True:
-            async with create_task_group() as tg:
-                tg.start_soon(self._listen_from_subshells)
-                await self._subshell_change.wait()
-                tg.cancel_scope.cancel()
-
-            # anyio.Event is single use, so recreate to reuse
-            self._subshell_change = Event()
+        async with create_task_group() as tg:
+            tg.start_soon(self._listen_for_subshell_reply, None)
+            async for subshell_id in self._receive_stream:
+                tg.start_soon(self._listen_for_subshell_reply, subshell_id)
 
     def subshell_id_from_thread_id(self, thread_id) -> str | None:
         """Return subshell_id of the specified thread_id.
@@ -173,14 +172,15 @@ async def _create_subshell(self, subshell_task) -> str:
             shell_channel_socket = self._create_inproc_pair_socket(subshell_id, True)
             self._cache[subshell_id] = Subshell(thread, shell_channel_socket)
 
+        # Tell task running listen_from_subshells to create a new task to listen for
+        # reply messages from the new subshell to resend to the client.
+        await self._send_stream.send(subshell_id)
+
         address = self._get_inproc_socket_address(subshell_id)
         thread.add_task(thread.create_pair_socket, self._context, address)
         thread.add_task(subshell_task, subshell_id)
         thread.start()
 
-        self._poller.register(shell_channel_socket, zmq.POLLIN)
-        self._subshell_change.set()
-
         return subshell_id
 
     def _delete_subshell(self, subshell_id: str) -> None:
@@ -199,22 +199,37 @@ def _get_inproc_socket_address(self, name: str | None):
         full_name = f"subshell-{name}" if name else "subshell"
         return f"inproc://{full_name}"
 
-    async def _listen_from_subshells(self):
-        """Await next reply message from any subshell (parent or child) and resend
-        to the client via the shell_socket.
+    def _get_shell_channel_socket(self, subshell_id: str | None) -> zmq.asyncio.Socket:
+        if subshell_id is None:
+            return self._parent_shell_channel_socket
+        with self._lock:
+            return self._cache[subshell_id].shell_channel_socket
+
+    def _is_subshell(self, subshell_id: str | None) -> bool:
+        if subshell_id is None:
+            return True
+        with self._lock:
+            return subshell_id in self._cache
 
-        If a subshell is created or deleted then the poller is updated and the task
-        executing this function is cancelled and then rescheduled with the updated
-        poller.
+    async def _listen_for_subshell_reply(self, subshell_id: str | None):
+        """Listen for reply messages on specified subshell inproc socket and
+        resend to the client via the shell_socket.
 
         Runs in the shell channel thread.
         """
         assert current_thread().name == "Shell channel"
 
-        while True:
-            for socket, _ in await self._poller.poll():
-                msg = await socket.recv_multipart(copy=False)
+        shell_channel_socket = self._get_shell_channel_socket(subshell_id)
+
+        try:
+            while True:
+                msg = await shell_channel_socket.recv_multipart(copy=False)
                 self._shell_socket.send_multipart(msg)
+        except BaseException as e:
+            if not self._is_subshell(subshell_id):
+                # Subshell no longer exists so exit gracefully
+                return
+            raise e
 
     async def _process_control_request(self, request, subshell_task):
         """Process a control request message received on the control inproc
@@ -252,6 +267,5 @@ def _stop_subshell(self, subshell: Subshell):
             thread.stop()
             thread.join()
 
-        self._poller.unregister(subshell.shell_channel_socket)
-        self._subshell_change.set()
+        # Closing the shell_channel_socket terminates the task that is listening on it.
         subshell.shell_channel_socket.close()