Lindsay Wong
CBC Books | | Posted: June 26, 2018 5:29 PM | Last Updated: May 12, 2020
Lindsay Wong is a Vancouver-based author. She holds a BFA in creative writing from the University of British Columbia and an MFA in literary nonfiction from Columbia University.
Wong's debut memoir The Woo-Woo is a darkly comic story of her dysfunctional family who blame their woes on ghosts and demons. The Woo-Woo was a finalist for the 2018 Hilary West Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction and was defended by Joe Zee on Canada Reads 2019. CBC Books named Wong a writer to watch in 2019.
My Summer of Love and Misfortune, which publishes on June 2, 2020, is her first YA novel.
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Books by Lindsay Wong
Lindsay Wong on writing about mental health in her memoir
"I think it's an important story because of the stigma and shame of mental illness. One out of five Canadians have mental illness or know someone who has mental illness. I hope everyone can relate to this idea that mental illness is not shameful or taboo or a stigma, especially Chinese Canadians. We have a private culture where we don't share our secrets and we don't trust outsiders, necessarily. I'm hoping that people will be able to talk openly about illness and things that are affecting them.
I hope everyone can relate to this idea that mental illness is not shameful or taboo or a stigma, especially Chinese Canadians. - Lindsay Wong
"I know I have a lot of Chinese Canadian friends who are my age and they are terrified of telling their parents that they're seeing a therapist or they're depressed because of the shame and the ridicule that would come with it. I've always been a very honest person in that sense. When I'm writing, I feel like nothing is sacred."