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 (《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
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
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
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
Anne of Green Gables 2018
Movie script
Langqin Island (《浪琴岛》) 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 (《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》)
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》)