Yasuko Thanh

Yasuko Nguyen Thanh is a Canadian novelist and short story writer born June 30, 1971 in Victoria, British Columbia to a German mother and a Vietnamese father. She was named one of ten CBC Books’ writers to watch in 2013. At 15, Thanh dropped out of school and lived on the streets. Previous to winning the Journey Prize for her short story Floating Like the Dead in 2009, Thanh earned her living as a busker, an opium dealer, a cleaner of goat pens, a Bed & Breakfast operator, housekeeper, and panhandler. She has lived in Canada, Mexico, Germany, Honduras. Thanh completed a Bachelor of Arts as well as a Masters of Fine Arts from the University of Victoria. She screams in the punk band 12 Gauge Facial, and lives with her husband, Hank Angel, and her two children on Vancouver Island, BC.

Thanh’s debut novel, Mysterious Fragrance of the Yellow Mountains, forthcoming with Penguin’s Hamish Hamilton Imprint April 2016, is based on Thanh’s family stories and the real-life Hanoi Poisoning Plot of 1908.

Photo and description taken from: yasukothanh.com