Paul Yee
| Paul Yee | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1 October 1956 Spalding, Saskatchewan |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Period | 1983 - present |
| Notable works | Saltwater City; Ghost Train; Teach Me to Fly, Skyfighter; The Curses of Third Uncle; Dead Man’s Gold |
| Website | |
| www |
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Paul Yee (born 1 October 1956) is a Chinese-Canadian historian and writer. He is the author of many books for children, including Teach Me to Fly, Skyfighter, The Curses of Third Uncle, Dead Man's Gold, and Ghost Train — winner of the 1996 Governor General's Award for English language children's literature. In 2012, the Writers' Trust of Canada awarded Paul Yee the Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People in recognition of having "contributed uniquely and powerfully to our literary landscape over a writing career that spans almost 30 years".
Yee was born in Spalding, Saskatchewan in 1956 but was raised in Chinatown, Vancouver by his aunt Lilian. He describes himself as feeling "caught between two worlds" growing up, and many of his works about Chinese-Canadians reflect this tension. He attended Lord Strathcona Elementary School and Britannia Secondary School in Vancouver. Yee obtained a Bachleor's and master's degree in Canadian History from the University of British Columbia.
Yee has volunteered at the Vancouver Chinese Cultural Center (1974-1987) and worked as an archivist at the City of Vancouver Archives (1979-1987) and at the Archives of Ontario (1988-1991). He also worked at the Ontario Ministry of Citizenship (1991-1997).
Paul Yee's first book, titled Teach Me to Fly, Skyfighter! And Other Stories and illustrated by Sky Lee, was published in 1983 by James Lorimer & Company. He has stated that his career as a writer is "a fluke" as it was Lorimer that approached Yee, wanting a knowledgeable person to create a book set in Vancouver's Chinatown neighborhood. Since then, he has published over twenty-five distinct works - including children's books, young adult books, short stories, and non-fiction books for adults. One of his books for children, Ghost Train, was adapted as a play by Betty Quan and performed by the Young Peoples Theatre in Toronto in 2001. Yee's first original play, Jade in the Coal, premiered at the Frederic Wood Theatre in Vancouver on November 25, 2010. In 2011, he created a poem to accompany the Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra's performance of an original composition by Jin Zhang. The piece was translated from English to Chinese and performed in both languages by Tommy Tao.
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