Author Wayson Choy is a thoughtful man. He seeks meaning in his life and the lives of others, he ponders his own career as a writer and as an educator, and he tries to notice signs that will point his way.
"I was raised by storytellers," he says, "and taught to pay attention to signs and warnings."
Right now, the signs point to one strong message - the 67-year-old is hard at work on the first of a two-book contract with Doubleday in which he will write about his recent near death experiences. The first was in 2001 when he fell into a coma for 11 days, and the second, his heart attack last September. The book's working title is apt: Not Yet. After a recent quadruple bypass operation, he remarks with some irony, that it was the second near death experience that sent him on his way.
In an exclusive interview with Coast Reporter last Saturday just before his reading event for the Festival of the Written Arts, Choy touched on many other aspects of his life, discussing how he had met with his elders 12 years ago to explore some of their secrets, all in an effort to learn more and answer the question: "What is the source of who I am?"
He is a genuine man, so he speaks the truth when he says that he was honoured to share his major $12,000 Trillium Award with another nominee, Margaret Atwood. He was a newcomer to the literary scene at the time after writing his novel The Jade Peony, set in Vancouver's Chinatown during the 1930s and 1940s. The book went on to win the City of Vancouver Book Award and was voted one of the 100 most important books in Canadian history by the Literary Review of Canada. The Globe and Mail called it exquisite. MacLean's lauded it as one of the finest works of fiction yet.
Choy's career blossomed. He wrote a memoir of his own Chinatown heritage, Paper Shadows, that exposed his childhood, then followed it with another novel, All That Matters, in 2004. Each book has been informed by his Chinese heritage, yet Choy describes himself as "a banana, in the parlance of my time: yellow on the outside, white on the inside." His language is English. In 1947, when an act of parliament finally allowed Chinese Canadians to follow any career, he chose to be a writer. His mother suffered the commiseration of her friends. "Why doesn't Wayson become a chemist or an engineer?" they asked. But the English language had captured his interest in a way that Chinese did not.Choy hoped to convey to the Coast audience that their own stories were important. "So many of our generation, the elders, are leaving us," he said. "Write so that it leaves something behind." When he was a child he recalls watching his mother as she burned many years of diaries written by his grandfather, the pages turning to ashes that spiralled up to the sky. It is an image he will always remember.
This preview event last Saturday kicked off this year's lineup for the Aug. 3 to 6 Festival of the Written Arts, four days of literary inspiration and Canadian talent. At time of writing, tickets for all events are available, but four authors are almost sold out: Hutchison lecturer Maude Barlow, Mennonite author Miriam Toews, novelist Jane Urquhart and Afghan war writer Nelofer Pazira. Tickets can be ordered at 604-885-9631 or check the website www.writersfestival.ca for more information.
