Wayson Choy

Born in Vancouver in 1939, Wayson Choy was raised as an only child in Vancouver’s Chinatown by his adoptive parents. He studied Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia before moving East, where he took a position teaching English at Humber College, Toronto.

His first novel, The Jade Peony, grew out of a short story he had previously written, and earned him the attention as a great Canadian writer, sharing the Trillium Book Award with fellow Canadian author, Margaret Atwood in 1996. Since his first novel, Choy has subsequently returned to the themes and characters he explored with his sophomore novel, All That Matters.

His works of fiction reflect his personal experiences growing up as a marginalized person on Canada’s west shore. Dealing with issues of identity and the struggle for second-generation immigrants to mediate a balance between their parents’ culture and the culture of their country of birth, Choy uses poetic narrative, blurring the distinction between old myths and contemporary realities as they are experienced through the eyes of the young.

Since 1967, Choy has worked as a professor at Humber College. In addition to teaching and writing, Choy volunteers for various community literacy projects and AIDS groups. After a near-death experience in 2001, Choy set to work to write his memoir, Not Yet, which was published in 2008.

Bibliography
The Jade Peony (1995)
Paper Shadows: A Chinatown Childhood (1999)
All That Matters (2004)
Not Yet: A Memoir of Living and Almost Dying (2008)

Awards
City of Vancouver Book Award (1996, The Jade Peony)
Trillium Book Award (1996, The Jade Peony)
Edna Staebler Creative Non-Fiction Award (Paper Shadows, 2000)
Governor General’s Award (Nominated, Paper Shadows)
Trillium Book Award (2004, All That Matters)
Soctiabank Giller Prize (Shortlisted, 2004, All That Matters)