Yiming Ma was born in Shanghai and currently lives in Toronto. He has an MBA from Stanford and worked in tech and finance for a decade in New York, Toronto, London, Berlin, and South Africa. Ma has an MFA from Warren Wilson College in North Carolina.
Fiction
These Memories Do Not Belong to Us: A Constellation Novel
Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2025.
Publisher’s Synopsis (From its website)
In a far-off future ruled by the Qin Empire, every citizen is fitted with a Mindbank, an intracranial device capable of recording and transmitting memories between minds. This technology gives birth to Memory Capitalism, where anyone with means can relive the life experiences of others. It also unleashes opportunities for manipulation: memories can be edited, marketed, and even corrupted for personal gain.
After the sudden passing of his mother, an unnamed narrator inherits a collection of banned memories from her Mindbank so dangerous that even possessing them places his freedom in jeopardy. Traversing genres, empires, and millennia, these memories once belonged to sumo wrestlers and social activists, armless swimmers and watchmakers, all struggling to survive amid the backdrop of Qin’s ascent toward global dominance. Determined to release his mother’s memories to the world before they are destroyed forever, the narrator will risk everything—even if the cost is his own life.
Awards and Honours
2026 Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize in Speculative Fiction (Finalist)
Links
Yiming Ma personal website
Publisher Penguin Random House Canada, owner of the McClelland & Stewart imprint