Fred Wah will be the featured poet at Gung Haggis Fat Choy poetry night at the Vancouver Public Library, January 17, 2005.  And hopefully for the January 30, Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner in Vancouver.

Fred Wah has an extensive writing catalogue and recieved the Governor General's Award for Poetry for his collection Waiting for Sasketchewan (1985).  He also wrote Diamond Grill (1996), about growing up in a small-town Chinese-Canadian cafe in a “hybrid” family, which won the Howard O'Hagan Award for Short Fiction.  In 2000, Wah recieved the Gabrielle Roy Prize for writing on Canadian literature for Faking It: Poetics and Hybridity, Critical Writing 1984-1999.

Last year the Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop honoured Fred at the annual ACCWW Community Builder's Dinner, along with fellow poet professor Roy Miki, the Japanese Canadian Bulletin, and radio pioneer and yo yo champion Harvey Lowe.

Every time I have talked with Fred Wah about Gung Haggis Fat Choy, he smiles broadly and laughs.  Fred should know about the combination of Scots and Chinese Canadianisms… His father was Scots-Irish-Chinese Canadian and his mother was Swedish.

The retired University of Calgary English professor moved to Vancouver last year.  For more about Fred check out:  http://www.library.utoronto.ca/canpoetry/wah/index.htm