Lindsay Wong

Lindsay Wong is a Vancouver-based author. She holds a BFA in creative writing from the University of British Columbia and an MFA in literary nonfiction from Columbia University.

Wong's debut memoir The Woo-Woo is a darkly comic story of her dysfunctional family who blame their woes on ghosts and demons. The Woo-Woo was a finalist for the 2018 Hilary West Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction and was defended by Joe Zee on Canada Reads 2019. CBC Books named Wong a writer to watch in 2019.

My Summer of Love and Misfortune, which publishes on June 2, 2020, is her first YA novel. 

• The CBC Books winter reading list: 15 Canadian books to read this season
• Rejected multiple times, Lindsay Wong's memoir is now a finalist for Canada Reads
• Lindsay Wong's favourite Canadian book of 2018: That Time I Loved You by Carrianne Leung
• Why books were a form of escape for Canada Reads author Lindsay Wong
• 19 Canadian writers to watch in 2019
• The Woo-Woo author Lindsay Wong is writing a YA novel

Books by Lindsay Wong

Lindsay Wong on writing about mental health in her memoir

"I think it's an important story because of the stigma and shame of mental illness. One out of five Canadians have mental illness or know someone who has mental illness. I hope everyone can relate to this idea that mental illness is not shameful or taboo or a stigma, especially Chinese Canadians. We have a private culture where we don't share our secrets and we don't trust outsiders, necessarily. I'm hoping that people will be able to talk openly about illness and things that are affecting them.

I hope everyone can relate to this idea that mental illness is not shameful or taboo or a stigma, especially Chinese Canadians.- Lindsay Wong

"I know I have a lot of Chinese Canadian friends who are my age and they are terrified of telling their parents that they're seeing a therapist or they're depressed because of the shame and the ridicule that would come with it. I've always been a very honest person in that sense. When I'm writing, I feel like nothing is sacred."

Read more in Lindsay Wong's interview with CBC Books.

• Read an excerpt from The Woo-Woo

Interviews with Lindsay Wong

Canada Reads 2019 author Lindsay Wong on the value of exploring mental health through writing

5 years ago

Duration 3:16

In this special Canada Reads 2019 edition of the CBC Books' video series, the author of The Woo-Woo talks about how writing about mental illness proved to be cathartic.

The Next Chapter15:32Lindsay Wong on The Woo Woo

Lindsay Wong talks to Shelagh Rogers about her debut book, The Woo-Woo: How I Survived Ice Hockey, Drug Raids, Demons, and My Crazy Chinese Family. (CANADA READS SELECTION)

CBC Books7:24Lindsay Wong speaks about her memoir The Woo-Woo

Writer Linsday Wong talks to CBC Radio's The Early Edition about her darkly comic memoir.