Wayson Choy

Wayson Choy was born in Vancouver on April 30, 1939.  He spent his childhood in Vancouver’s Chinatown, attending high-school at Gladstone Secondary. After graduating, he stayed in Vancouver for his post-secondary education, completing his Bachelor's degree in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia. Choy is a novelist and a short-story writer, most known for his story, The Jade Peony, which is a story based on his childhood experiences in Vancouver’s Chinatown.  Choy began writing the piece as a short story at the University of British Columbia in the 1970’s. When it was finally published in 1995, the work won such awards like the 1996 Trillium Book Award, the 1996 City of Vancouver Book Award, and spent 6 months on the Globe and Mail Bestseller list. His later works, like Paper Shadows: A Chinatown Childhood and All That Matters, have also won a host of accolades and awards. Despite relocating to Toronto since 1967, the majority of his works are set in Vancouver’s Chinatown and shed light to the many experiences, sights, and sounds that the Chinese have faced in Vancouver during the 20th century.

"Everything significant in my life was visible in the beginning, even if I didn't see it at the time, everything comes back around."