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About
Jen Sookfong Lee wrote her first short story at the age of 10, a horror tale featuring a witch, a scrappy little girl and a casserole dish. She hasn't stopped writing since. Her first novel, The End of East (Vintage Canada and Thomas Dunne Books), explores themes of isolation, immigration, romance and sanity through the eyes of its narrator, Sammy Chan, a Chinese Canadian woman in her early 20s, and through the experiences of her parents and grandparents. The End of East is a novel with poetry at its heart, mixing character study, history, place and sexuality for a story that is both edgy and evocative. The End of East, which spans almost the entire 20th century, delves into the underside of Chinese North American history, exploring the repercussions of systemic racism, Chinatown bachelor societies and the years of separation between working men abroad and their wives and children who remained in China. Both global and intimate, The End of East is about the Chan family's journey westward and their struggle to understand each other and the shape their lives have taken. In March 2007, Knopf Canada published The End of East as part of its New Face of Fiction program. Publishing debut fiction for over 10 years, the New Face of Fiction has launched the careers of Yann Martel, Gail Anderson-Dargatz and Ann-Marie MacDonald, among others. Critics have called The End of East "impressive," "an emotional powerhouse of a novel" and "accomplished," while Jen has been hailed as "a novelist to watch." An energetic and engaged stage presence, Jen has appeared at a number of literary festivals, including the Sunshine Coast Festival of the Written Arts, the Vancouver International Writers Festival, the Asian American Writers' Workshop and International Readings at the Harbourfront Centre. She has spoken at universities and high schools across Canada and was the first debut novelist to be featured on CBC's Studio One Book Club. A popular radio personality, Jen is the writing columnist for CBC Radio One's On the Coast with Stephen Quinn and All Points West with Jo-Ann Roberts. Her column, Westcoast Words, explores the plethora of words around us--online, on billboards, in magazines, on stages, everywhere--and the people who write them. Jen is currently working on her second novel. Born and raised in East Vancouver, Jen always knew she would be a writer despite her father’s observation that she should become a lawyer because “she likes to talk back” and her mother’s lingering disappointment that none of her bookish daughters entered the Miss Chinese Vancouver beauty pageant. Jen and her husband lived for several years in a downtown apartment, only to move back to the east side where they now live with their dog near the Fraser River. Jen is a member of the writing group SPiN and is represented by the Carolyn Swayze Literary Agency. |
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