Jon Chan Simpson on Chinkstar

A gang war, a missing Asian rapper and a family saga from bygone days are just a few elements in Jon Chan Simpson's debut novel, Chinkstar. It's the coming-of-age story of a young Alberta man tackling issues of identity, race and the power of music.

ON THE INFLUENCE OF HIP HOP

Hip hop, especially when you're listening to it at that age when you're in your early high school years and you're first getting into music, is a kind of music that helps people define themselves. It really divides people who are with it from people who are not, and it's a very attractive form of music because of that. 

ON LANGUAGE, RACE AND IDENTITY

This was one of the problems I was trying to work out through writing — this idea that there might be a racialized group trying to express itself through the voice of another racialized group, and how they might find some kind of originality, how problematic it is, how difficult it is but at the same time how necessary it is. For these kids there's no other voice, there's nothing quite as strong or as aggressive or as powerful that can carry their racial anxieties. Yet at the same time they're having to borrow from a past, a language and a culture that is not theirs, so they go over the top to try to stamp out their own brand on that.

Jon Chan Simpson's comments have been edited and condensed.