Bios

Fiona Tinwei Lam

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Fiona Tinwei Lam was born in Paisley, Scotland, and emigrated to Vancouver with her family when she was four years old.

Her first book of poetry, Intimate Distances, was a finalist for the City of Vancouver Book Award, and she published a second book of poetry, Enter the Chrysanthemum, in 2009. Fiona is also a co-editor of and contributor to the literary non-fiction anthology, Double Lives, published by McGill-Queen's University Press.

Last year, Fiona's work was selected for The Best Canadian Poetry in English 2010. She edited The Bright Well, a collection of contemporary Canadian poetry about facing cancer published by Leaf Press in 2011, and Oolichan Books will be publishing The Rainbow Rocket, her first book for children, in 2012.

Reporting Beat: Tyee Books and Life

Website: www.fionalam.net

Stories by Fiona Tinwei Lam

life

What's Behind BC's Doors?

Click through to see more enchanting doors perceived by Tyee readers across the province.

By Jessica Roberts-Farina and Fiona Tinwei Lam, 19 May 2012

life

Celebrating the Difficult Mother

A salute to tired, mercurial, fierce moms like mine. Plus, a poem for this weekend.

By Fiona Tinwei Lam, 12 May 2012

life

Race, Violence, Kids: Watching 'Hunger Games' with My 10-Year-Old Son

I agonized for weeks, and then we dove in together.

By Fiona Tinwei Lam, 16 Apr 2012

life

Beyond the Underground Railroad

Let's keep celebrating black people's integral contributions to Canadian society, past and present.

By Fiona Tinwei Lam, 2 Mar 2012

life

The End of Love

On Valentine's Day, a cynic finds refuge in poems about love, rather than love poetry.

By Fiona Tinwei Lam, 14 Feb 2012

books

Fred Wah: 'All Creativity Is Political'

Canada's new poet laureate on writing for the Queen's Jubilee, racial hybridity, making Juk soup, and more.

By Fiona Tinwei Lam, 23 Jan 2012

life

Christmas and Cancer

Grieving for my father each December, I found solace in the gift of poetry.

By Fiona Tinwei Lam, 23 Dec 2011

life

For All the Targeted Women

Notes, and poems, on the anniversary of the Montreal Massacre.

By Fiona Tinwei Lam, 6 Dec 2011

life

Poetry for Remembrance

Words shape how we remember war, and the right ones heal. Plus, a poem for today.

By Fiona Tinwei Lam, 11 Nov 2011

books

'Eating Dirt'

After 20 years of tree-planting, Charlotte Gill was ready to sprout a book as complex and crystalline as the forest itself.

By Robyn Smith and Fiona Tinwei Lam, 21 Oct 2011

life

For All the World's Ground Zeroes, Poetry

When the towers fell, St. Paul's Chapel was a nearby refuge. Ten years later, I paid my tribute there with other Canadian poets.

By Fiona Tinwei Lam, 10 Sep 2011

books

Madeleine Thien on Making Fragments Whole

The author of 'Dogs at the Perimeter' on genocide, its aftermath, and fiction's unique fire. A Tyee interview.

By Fiona Tinwei Lam, 1 Sep 2011

life

Did He Lie, Mom?

Talking to my son about the scandal over Greg Mortenson's 'Three Cups of Tea'.

By Fiona Tinwei Lam, 15 Jul 2011

life

Father's Day: Its Origin, Its Meaning

Born of a mining disaster, a day to savour tenderness, or mourn its loss.

By Fiona Tinwei Lam, 17 Jun 2011

life

Music as Path out of Poverty

Why are we stingy with children's musical education? A miraculous program from Venezuela strikes a chord of hope that could resonate powerfully here.

By Fiona Tinwei Lam, 25 May 2011

life

Mother's Day's Radical Roots

The mom who started it all worked for peace and community activism, saying a firm no to commercialization.

By Fiona Tinwei Lam, 6 May 2011

opinion

The Hole in the Middle: Gambling, Families and Politicians

Financial wreckage caused by gambling addicts hurts spouses, kids. Why does our government bet on more sad losers?

By Fiona Tinwei Lam, 5 May 2011

books

'Everything Was Good-bye,' a Canadian Romeo and Juliet

BC Book Prize winner Gurjinder Basran on constricted girlhood, arranged marriage, a mother's pride and more.

By Fiona Tinwei Lam, 22 Apr 2011

life

A Tyee Series

Education Without Barriers: The 'Hum' Success Story

In Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, students bring rich perspectives to the study of university-level humanities.

By Fiona Tinwei Lam, 1 Mar 2011

life

Go Ahead, Write a Love Poem

To anyone, or anything. You don't have to be in a blissful relationship to celebrate life.

By Fiona Tinwei Lam, 14 Feb 2011

life

Fear of Ghosts: Vancouver's Hospice Uproar

Instead of demonizing some Chinese immigrants for how they conceive of death, let's take this opportunity to face mortality together.

By Fiona Tinwei Lam, 24 Jan 2011

life

My Chinese Mother Was No 'Tiger,' and Yet...

Stepping into the furor stirred by Amy Chua's 'Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.'

By Fiona Tinwei Lam, 20 Jan 2011

books

Fifty Drops at a Time

Reflections of a contributor to 'Walk Myself Home: An Anthology to End Violence Against Women.'

By Fiona Tinwei Lam, 6 Dec 2010

books

For Evelyn Lau, Poetry Is Life and Death

The author of 'Living Under Plastic' talks about mortality and confessional writing. And shares a poem.

By Fiona Tinwei Lam, 27 Oct 2010

books

Amber Dawn's Sex Worker Underworld

The author of 'Sub Rosa' on empowering the sexually exploited, speculative fiction, Evelyn Lau as hero, and more.

By Fiona Tinwei Lam, 28 Sep 2010

artsculture

Moving Words: How Poetry Got on the Bus

BC's Poetry in Transit program launches this year's poems for public transit.

By Fiona Tinwei Lam, 27 Sep 2010

books

Rediscovering Our Parents: Memory and Mystery

Author Judy Fong Bates on the sacrifice of the soul that immigrants make, family mysteries, and going 'home' for the first time.

By Fiona Tinwei Lam, 6 Sep 2010

life

Discovering the Soul of Chinese New Year

Growing up, the holiday didn't mean much. Now my child helps me see what we're celebrating.

By Fiona Tinwei Lam, 12 Feb 2010

life

Why is Vancouver So Poetry Shy?

Diary of a random acts of poetry perpetrator.

By Fiona Tinwei Lam, 4 Nov 2004