Xiaowen Zeng

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Xiaowen Zeng
Xiaowen Zeng.
Xiaowen Zeng.
Native name
曾晓文
BornJiamusi, Heilongjiang, China
OccupationWriter
screenwriter
translator
LanguageChinese, English
CitizenshipCanada
Alma materNankai University
Syracuse University
Period1991–present
GenreNovel, novella, short story, screenplay, prose
Notable worksShattered Dreams in Texas
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese曾曉文
Simplified Chinese曾晓文

Xiaowen Zeng (Chinese: 曾晓文; pinyin: Zēng Xiǎowén) is a Chinese-Canadian author living in Toronto, Canada.

Biography[edit]

Xiaowen Zeng was born in Jiamusi in the Heilongjiang of China. She received a Master of Arts in Literature from Nankai University, and a Master of Science in IT from Syracuse University. She lived in the United States for 9 years, and immigrated to Canada in 2003.

Xiaowen has worked in the IT field for more than 20 years including as System Analyst, IT Manager, Sr. Director of IT in Canada, the U.S. and China. She has published a number of works of fiction and non-fiction, and screenplays.

Community activities include:

  • Vice Chair and Chair of the Chinese Pen Society of Canada from 2004 to 2012
  • Co-organized the First Chinese Canadian International Literature Symposium in 2011
  • Presented at a number of Oversea Chinese Literature conferences in China
  • Interviewed by CCTV (China) in 2006 and 2014; by OMNI Television in 2010, 2014 and 2018; by Fairchild TV in 2009 and 2018; and by a number of TV/radio stations, journals and newspaper in China, Canada and the US
  • Presentations of readings and lectures at Toronto Public Library, at schools including Harvard University, the University of Toronto, York University, Western University in Canada, and Jinan University, Zhejiang University, People's University, Nankai University, and Tianjin Normal University in China

Selected works[edit]

Published works in Chinese[edit]

Novel[edit]

  • The China Chip (《中国芯传奇》) 2019, Co-Author (合著)
  • The Immigrant Years (《移民岁月》) 2013
  • The Night Is Still Young (《夜还年轻》) 2009
  • Shattered Dreams in Texas (also published as The Daytime Floating Journey) (《梦断德克萨斯》或《白日飘行》) 2005

Collection of novellas and short stories[edit]

  • A Double Petaled Woman (《重瓣女人花》) 2017
  • Too Tired to Love (《爱不动了》) 2016
  • The Kilt and Clover (《苏格兰短裙和三叶草》) 2012

Collection of prose[edit]

  • The Woman Born a Leaf (《属树叶的女子》) 2018
  • Carrying the Soul Back Home (《背灵魂回家》) 2017
  • Turn Your Back to the Moon (《背对月亮》) 2012

TV script[edit]

  • Co-wrote and published a 20-episode TV drama Invented in China (《中国创造》) in 2011. It was made into a 30-episode series re-titled Let Go of Your Hand and aired in 2014 in China. (《错放你的手》)

Translation[edit]

  • Anne of Green Gables 2018

Movie script[edit]

  • Langqin Island (《浪琴岛》) 2013

Published works in English[edit]

  • A translated version of Carrying the Soul Back Home has been published on the Ricepaper.ca website and was included in the Ricepaper 2017 print anthology Currents. It also was long listed for PRISM magazine’s 2015 Creative Non-Fiction Contest.
  • First original English short story Return to Gander was published in an anthology of short stories by Chinese authors entitled The Strangers in 2016
  • Two short stories, The Kilt and Clover and The Smell, were published in an anthology of translated works by Canadian Chinese Writers entitled Toward the North in 2018

Awards[edit]

  • 2022 CBC Nonfiction Prize longlist for "Wildflower of the Labour Camp"
  • Overseas Chinese Writing Award for A Double Petaled Woman (《重瓣女人花》in 2019
  • The Great Bay Area Cyber Literature Award for in 2019
  • LinGuo Best Creativity Award for TV script in 2019
  • Overseas Chinese Writing Award for The Woman Born a Leaf (《属树叶的女子》in 2018
  • Top 10 novellas of 2017 as ranked by the China Fiction Association, for Gold Dust (《金尘》)
    Xiaowen receiving the top prize in the First Global Chinese Prose Competition, 2014
  • Top prize in the First Global Chinese Prose Competition, 2014, for Carrying the Soul Back Home (《背灵魂回家》)
  • The Chinese Writers Erdos Literature Award (2011)
  • Zhongshan Overseas Literature Award (2011)
  • 2011 Best TV Script Award sponsored by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Radio, Film and television
  • Top 10 short stories of 2009 as ranked by the China Fiction Association, for The Kilt and Clover (《苏格兰短裙和三叶草》)
  • United Daily News Literature Prize, 2004
  • Central Daily News literature Prize, 1996

External links[edit]