Jim Wong-Chu

Born in Hong Kong, Jim Wong-Chu came to Canada in 1953 as a paper son, to live with his aunt and uncle.[3] Wong-Chu attended the Vancouver School of Art (now known as Emily Carr University of Art and Design) from 1975 to 1981, majoring in photography and design.[4] He began working at Canada Post as a letter carrier in 1975, a position which he held until his retirement in 2013.

During his time at the Vancouver School of Art, Wong-Chu wrote on culture and assimilation for the CFRO-FM radio program called "Pender Guy".[5] From 1985 to 1987 he studied creative writing at the University of British Columbia; his class writings eventually were compiled into his first book of poetry.

Wong-Chu was among the first authors of Asian descent, along with Sky Lee and Paul Yee, who challenged the Canadian literary establishment and questioned why there were few Canadian writers of Asian descent, despite their long presence in Canada. Without much guidance, these writers began to experiment with different forms of fiction and decided to form informal writing networks to encourage other Asian Canadians to hone their craft and to eventually send manuscripts to publishers. Wong-Chu's book Chinatown Ghosts (Arsenal Pulp Press, 1986; now out of print, reissued in 2018) was one of the first poetry books by an Asian Canadian writer.

One of Wong-Chu's most successful projects took place in the library stacks of the University of British Columbia, where he researched the entire inventory of books and journals, in search of writings dating back ten to 20 years. With the goal of mapping all Asian Canadian writers and their materials, he helped to compile them into an anthology of Asian Canadian literature. Taking what they considered the 20 best works, Wong-Chu and co-editor Bennett Lee published an anthology called Many Mouthed Birds. One of the pieces anthologized was a short story by Wayson Choy, who later expanded it into the award-winning Vancouver-based book The Jade Peony.

In 1996, Wong-Chu co-founded the Asian Canadian Writers Workshop Society. The organization fundraised for the establishment of the Emerging Writer Award; winners of the prize have included Rita Wong and Jamie Liew.[6][7] Wong-Chu shortly afterwards established a newsletter, Ricepaper, and became its first editor. It evolved into a literary journal that published a number of Asian Canadian writers on topics relating to culture and identity. In 2013, Wong-Chu started a festival, the first Asian writers festival in North America.[8] On Wong-Chu's death in 2017, the award was renamed the Jim Wong-Chu Emerging Writer Award, in honour of his legacy and contributions to Canadian writers of Asian descent.

To further honour his legacy, the Victoria Arts Council worked with Arsenal Pulp Press, Ricepaper Magazine, LiterAsian Festival and the Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop to translate Wong-Chu's poem "Monsoon" from Chinatown Ghosts into a permanent lightbox sign in Victoria's famed Fan Tan Alley. This double-sided sign, with the poem in English on one side and in Chinese on the other, was produced as the first iteration of the Victoria Arts Council's Poetry in Public campaign (installed October 2019), working with translators Jan Walls and May Yan-Mountain.

In 2021, a Google Doodle honoured Jim Wong-Chu on the 72nd anniversary of his birth.[9]

Jim Wong-Chu suffered a stroke in March 2017 and later died on July 11, 2017.[10]

• Chinatown Ghosts (1986);[11] reissued by Arsenal Pulp Press in 2018.

• Many-Mouthed Birds: Contemporary Writing by Chinese Canadians (1991)[12]
• Swallowing Clouds: An Anthology of Chinese-Canadian Poetry (1999)[13]
• Strike the Wok: A New Chinese-Canadian Anthology(2003)[14]
• AlliterAsian: Twenty Years of Ricepaper Magazine (2015)[15]

• Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2013)
• Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal, Department of Canadian Heritage
• Canada Post Silver Postmark Award
• Media Human Rights Award of B'nai Brith Canada (1980)