From the Past, For the Future

An Interview with Paul Yee

Abstract

Among writers who have focused on early Chinese immigrants, few have had as much impact as Paul Yee. Trained as a historian, Yee became deeply involved in Asian Canadian activism while he was a student. Over his prolific career, he has written more than twenty-five books with a particular emphasis on fiction for children and young readers. He has received numerous honours, including the City of Vancouver Book Award and the Governor General's Literary Award for Children's Literature. The following interview, which began as a conversation recorded in November 2023, addresses Yee's long career in Asian Canadian cultural activism, his novel, A Superior Man (2015), and the significance of the centenary of the 1923 Chinese Exclusion Act, which was observed in 2023.