Interview: Wayson Choy, On the Line with Joseph Planta (thecommentary.ca)

Wayson Choy - Thursday, 07 May 2009

Celebrated author Wayson Choy discusses his new book, the critically acclaimed and bestselling, Not Yet: A Memoir of Living and Almost Dying (Doubleday, 2009), with Joseph Planta.

Not Yet: A Memoir of Living and Almost Dying by Wayson Choy. (Doubleday, 2009)

Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: Not Yet

Text of introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line. This is THECOMMENTARY.CA.

The celebrated and beloved author Wayson Choy joins me now. His newest book, Not Yet: A Memoir of Living and Almost Dying has just been published. It is a terribly compelling book that begins with his suffering a combined asthma-heart attack in 2001. Amidst the hospital noise of machines beeping, Choy suddenly hears the voices of his ancestors warning him that without a wife he would die alone. He was not alone however, as by his side, were his adopted families. This fine book, illuminates those people who were near through his illness, and who were there four years later when he was felled again. The book is an exploration of family, in all its forms, and more importantly a chronicle of this time in the author's life where he almost bought it, and the realisation that it wasn't time, at least Not Yet. Wayson Choy is the author of the hugely popular The Jade Peony, which won the Trillium Book Award in 1995, and the City of Vancouver Book Award. His previous memoir, Paper Shadows, which discusses his growing up in Vancouver's Chinatown was a finalist for the Governor General's Award, the Charles Taylor Prize, and the Drainie-Taylor Biography Prize. His last book, All that Matters, a companion to The Jade Peony also won the Trillium, and was shortlisted for the Giller Prize. In 2000, he received the Edna Staebler Award for Non-Fiction. Not Yet is published by Doubleday. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, Wayson Choy; Good morning, Mr. Choy.