Yasuko Thanh

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[1]

Yasuko Thanh
Born (1971-06-30) June 30, 1971 (age 54)
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Occupationnovelist, short story writer
NationalityCanadian
Period2010s-present
Notable worksFloating Like the DeadMysterious Fragrance of the Yellow Mountains

Mistakes to Run With

To the Bridge

Yasuko Nguyen Thanh (born June 30, 1971) is a Canadian writer and guitarist. She has lived in Canada, Mexico, Germany, and Latin America and she was named one of ten CBC Books' writers to watch in 2013. [2] Thanh completed a Bachelor of Arts as well as a Masters of Fine Arts from the University of Victoria. She used to perform with the bands Jukebox Jezebel and 12 Gauge Facial, and she lives in Victoria, British Columbia.

Contents

Early life

She was born in Victoria, British Columbia, to a German mother and a Vietnamese father. At age 15, Thanh dropped out of school and lived on the streets. Previous to winning the Journey Prize for her short story Floating Like the Dead in 2009, Thanh earned her living as a busker in Vancouver. [3]

Writing

Thanh's first novel Mysterious Fragrance of the Yellow Mountains was published in 2016 by Hamish Hamilton, Penguin, Canada. [4] The novel won the 2016 Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. [5]

Thanh's short story collection, Floating Like the Dead (McClelland & Stewart 2012), which includes the Journey Prize-winning title story, was on Quill & Quire's list of best books of 2012. [6] The National Post wrote that "Yasuko Thanh impresses above all with the thematic complexity of her approach." [7]

Her early work was published in literary journals such as Prairie Fire , Descant , Fireweed, The Fiddlehead and PRISM International . [3]

Her memoir Mistakes to Run With was published in April 2019 by Penguin Canada and was a national best seller. [8]

Her novel To the Bridge published in 2023 by Penguin Canada explores the harrowing experience of a mother trying to hold her family together after her teenage daughter's suicide attempt. https://www.cbc.ca/books/to-the-bridge-by-yasuko-thanh-1.6959842#:~:text=Yasuko%20Thanh%20takes%20us%20on%20a%20journey,die%2C%20and%20how%20to%20protect%20her%20child.

Thanh's third novel, titled, The Falling Maria, based on a fictional WW1 fighter pilot, is forthcoming with Penguin Random House in 2027 https://www.bukowskiagency.com/yasuko-thanh-falling-maria. [9]

Awards

The short story "Floating Like the Dead" earned Thanh the 2009 Journey Prize. The book Floating Like the Dead (2012) was nominated for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, BC's award for best fiction [10] and was shortlisted for the sixteenth annual Danuta Gleed Literary Award. [11] Thanh was also a finalist for Amazon First Novel Award, the Jim Deva Prize for Writing that Provokes, and a winner of the Victoria Butler Book Prize https://vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/award-winning-victoria-author-yasuko-thanh-up-for-amazon-ca-first-novel-award https://bcyukonbookprizes.com/categories-and-criteria/jim-deva-prize-for-writing-that-provokes/ [12] </ref></ref>. [13] The short story "Spring-blade Knife" from Floating Like The Dead won the 2013 Arthur Ellis Award for Best Crime Short Story. [14]

References

  1. https://vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/award-winning-victoria-author-yasuko-thanh-up-for-amazon-ca-first-novel-award
  2. CBC Books' Writers to Watch in 2013
  3. 1 2 Writers' Trust Interviews Yasuko Thanh
  4. "Two debut novelists among this year’s Writers’ Trust nominees". The Globe and Mail , September 21, 2016.
  5. "Rogers Writers’ Trust: Celebrating the 2016 winners". Maclean's , November 3, 2016.
  6. "Quill & Quire Best Books of 2012 | Floating Like the Dead". Archived from the original on 2013-09-21. Retrieved 2013-09-20.
  7. Floating Like the Dead. National Post , April 13, 2012.
  8. "In Mistakes to Run With, award-winning author Yasuko Thanh looks back on her life as a sex worker". The Globe and Mail . April 30, 2019.
  9. Author Spotlight | Yasuko Thanh
  10. "The Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize 2013". Archived from the original on 2013-03-17. Retrieved 2013-09-20.
  11. Danuta Gleed Literary Awards
  12. https://www.timescolonist.com/local-news/two-victoria-authors-win-prizes-at-book-awards-gala-4654961
  13. Salty Ink Pitch and Plug with Journey Prize Winner Yasuko Thanh
  14. "Spring-blade Knife" wins Arthur Ellis Award for Best Crime Short Story Archived 2014-10-20 at the Wayback Machine