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Wayson Choy

ウェイソン・チョイ

Wayson Choy

Aliases: Choy Way Sun / 崔維新

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1939-04-20 （Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada）
Died
2019-04-28 （Toronto, Ontario, Canada） age 80
Nationality
Canada
Languages
English
Residence History
Vancouver (from birth until 1962) → Toronto (from 1962)

Career

Occupations
novelist, memoirist, teacher
Active Years
1995-2009
Affiliations
Humber College, Cahoots Theatre Company
Nominations
Governor General's Award for English-language non-fiction 1999 Paper Shadows shortlist, Scotiabank Giller Prize 2004 All That Matters shortlist

Education

University of British Columbia
Creative Writing
Country: Canada
First Chinese-Canadian student accepted into the creative writing program
Wilfrid Laurier University
Degree: 名誉文学博士
Year of Graduation: 2010
Country: Canada
Honorary Doctorate of Literature

Awards

Trillium Book Award (English)
1995
Work: The Jade Peony
Organization: Ontario Arts Council
Result: winner
City of Vancouver Book Award
1996
Work: The Jade Peony
Organization: City of Vancouver
Result: winner
Edna Staebler Award
2000
Work: Paper Shadows
Category: 創作ノンフィクション
Organization: Wilfrid Laurier University
Result: winner
Trillium Book Award (English)
2004
Work: All That Matters
Organization: Ontario Arts Council
Result: winner
Member of the Order of Canada
2005
Category: 生涯功労
Organization: Governor General of Canada
Result: recipient
George Woodcock Award
2015
Category: 生涯功労
Organization: Writers' Trust of Canada / Vancouver Public Library
Result: winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The Jade Peony

1995 novel

A story of three generations of a Chinese immigrant family in Vancouver's Chinatown during the 1940s and 1950s.

familycultural identityimpact of war

Paper Shadows: A Chinatown Childhood

1999 memoir

Memoir of childhood in Vancouver's Chinatown, discovering his adoption, and coming to terms with being gay.

adoptionsexual orientationimmigrant community

All That Matters

2004 novel

Story of a Chinese immigrant family's hardships and hopes from 1926 to the 1940s.

immigration journeyfamily bondsdiscrimination

Not Yet: A Memoir of Living and Almost Dying

2009 memoir

Memoir about a near-death experience from an asthma attack and cardiac arrest in 2001.

illnessrecoveryvalue of life

Bibliography

  • The Jade Peony
  • Paper Shadows: A Chinatown Childhood
  • All That Matters
  • Not Yet: A Memoir of Living and Almost Dying

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Vivid depictions of Chinatown lifeEmotionally rich narrative voiceExploration of cultural and personal conflicts
Recurring Motifs
family bondsimmigrant experiencessexual and ethnic identity

Health

  • Asthma
    2001年
    Medically induced coma for 11 days, cardiac arrest, 4 months in hospital with physiotherapy
  • Heart attack
    2005年
    Quadruple bypass surgery

Legacy

Pioneer of Asian Canadian literature and one of Canada's first openly gay writers of colour to achieve mainstream success.

Archives

  • Simon Fraser University's Special Collections and Rare Books

In Popular Culture

  • The Jade Peony selected for Canada Reads 2010
  • Project Bookmark Canada plaques in Vancouver's Chinatown

Trivia

  • Discovered later in life that he was adopted
  • Raised in Vancouver's Chinatown as a Chinese Canadian
  • One of Canada's first prominent Asian gay writers