Xiaowen Zeng Explained

Xiaowen Zeng

Native Name:

曾晓文

Native Name Lang:

zh-hans

Birth Place:

Jiamusi, Heilongjiang, China

Occupation:

Writer
screenwriter
translator

Citizenship:

Canada

Language:

Chinese, English

Alma Mater:

Nankai University
Syracuse University

Period:

1991–present

Genre:

Novel, novella, short story, screenplay, prose

Notableworks:

Shattered Dreams in Texas

Module:

Child:	yes
S:	曾晓文
T:	曾曉文
P:	Zēng Xiǎowén

Xiaowen Zeng is a Chinese-Canadian author living in Toronto, Canada.

Biography

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

Published works in Chinese

Novel

The China Chip 2019, Co-Author (Chinese: 合著)
The Immigrant Years 2013
The Night Is Still Young 2009
Shattered Dreams in Texas (also published as The Daytime Floating Journey) 2005

Collection of novellas and short stories

A Double Petaled Woman 2017
Too Tired to Love 2016
The Kilt and Clover 2012

Collection of prose

The Woman Born a Leaf 2018
Carrying the Soul Back Home 2017
Turn Your Back to the Moon 2012

TV script

Co-wrote and published a 20-episode TV drama Invented in China in 2011. It was made into a 30-episode series re-titled Let Go of Your Hand and aired in 2014 in China.

Translation

Anne of Green Gables 2018

Movie script

Langqin Island 2013

Published works in English

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

2022 CBC Nonfiction Prize longlist for "Wildflower of the Labour Camp"
Overseas Chinese Writing Award for A Double Petaled Woman (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 (in 2018
Top 10 novellas of 2017 as ranked by the China Fiction Association, for Gold Dust
Top prize in the First Global Chinese Prose Competition, 2014, for Carrying the Soul Back Home
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
United Daily News Literature Prize, 2004
Central Daily News literature Prize, 1996