{"id":14439,"date":"2021-10-09T13:08:39","date_gmt":"2021-10-09T17:08:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/library.ryerson.ca\/asianheritage\/?page_id=14439"},"modified":"2024-12-11T17:17:53","modified_gmt":"2024-12-11T22:17:53","slug":"xiran-jay-zhao","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/xiran-jay-zhao\/","title":{"rendered":"Xiran Jay Zhao"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Xiran Jay Zhao immigrated to Canada from China. They are a graduate of Simon Fraser University where they studied biochemistry while also writing “outlandish sci-fi and fantasy books.” Zhao describes themself as “raised by the Internet” and maintains numerous social media accounts. Their first novel, Iron Widow<\/em>, became an instant New York TIme<\/em>s bestseller. It is part of a planned duology. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Fiction (Juvenile \/ Young adult)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Iron Widow<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Toronto: Penguin Random House Canada Young Readers, 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher’s Synopsis (From its website)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The boys of Huaxia dream of pairing up with girls to pilot Chrysalises, giant transforming robots that can battle the mecha aliens that lurk beyond the Great Wall. It doesn’t matter that the girls often die from the mental strain.
 
When 18-year-old Zetian offers herself up as a concubine-pilot, it’s to assassinate the ace male pilot responsible for her sister’s death. But she gets her vengeance in a way nobody expected\u2014she kills him through the psychic link between pilots and emerges from the cockpit unscathed. She is labeled an Iron Widow, a much-feared and much-silenced kind of female pilot who can sacrifice boys to power up Chrysalises instead.\u200b
 
To tame her unnerving yet invaluable mental strength, she is paired up with Li Shimin, the strongest and most controversial male pilot in Huaxia\u200b. But now that Zetian has had a taste of power, she will not cower so easily. She will miss no opportunity to leverage their combined might and infamy to survive attempt after attempt on her life, until she can figure out exactly why the pilot system works in its misogynist way\u2014and stop more girls from being sacrificed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Awards and Honours<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

2022 Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize<\/a> (BC and Yukon Book Prizes)(Finalist)
2022 Locus Awards<\/a>–Young Adult Novel (Finalist)
2022 Locus Awards<\/a>–First Novel (Finalist)
2022 Amy Mathers Teen Book Award<\/a> (Winner)
2022 Arlene Barlin Award for Science Fiction and Fantasy<\/a> (Winner)
2023 White Pine Award (Honour Book #1)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Fiction (Juvenile \/ Young adult)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Heavenly Tyrant<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Toronto: Tundra Books\/Penguin Random House Canada Young Readers, 2024.
Series: Iron Widow ; bk. 2
Forthcoming Dec. 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher’s Synopsis (From its website)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

After suffering devastating loss and making drastic decisions, Zetian finds herself on the seat of power in Huaxia, but she has also learned that her world is not as it seems. Revelations about an enemy who dangles one of her loved ones as a hostage force Zetian to share power with a dangerous man she cannot simply depose. Despite their mutual dislike and distrust, the two must work together to take down their common enemy and stoke a revolution against the systems of exploitation that plague their world.

However, power is not so easy to wield once seized, and a revolution is not so easy to control once unleashed. As Huaxia\u2019s former elites strike back and the common people\u2019s fervor for justice turns bloody and paranoid, can Zetian remain a fair and just ruler? Or will she be forced to rely on fear and violence and succumb to her darker instincts in her quest for vengeance and liberation?See Less<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Fiction (Juvenile \/ Middle grade)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher’s Synopsis (From its website)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Zachary Ying never had many opportunities to learn about his Chinese heritage. His single mom was busy enough making sure they got by, and his schools never taught anything except Western history and myths. So Zack is woefully unprepared when he discovers he was born to host the spirit of the First Emperor of China for a vital mission: sealing the leaking portal to the Chinese underworld before the upcoming Ghost Month blows it wide open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mission takes an immediate wrong turn when the First Emperor botches his attempt to possess Zack\u2019s body and binds to Zack\u2019s AR gaming headset instead, leading to a battle where Zack\u2019s mom\u2019s soul gets taken by demons. Now, with one of history\u2019s most infamous tyrants yapping in his headset, Zack must journey across China to heist magical artifacts and defeat figures from history and myth, all while learning to wield the emperor\u2019s incredible water dragon powers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if Zack can\u2019t finish the mission in time, the spirits of the underworld will flood into the mortal realm, and he could lose his mom forever.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Links<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Xiran Jay Zhao personal website<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher Margaret K. McElderry Books<\/a>, an imprint of Simon & Schuster’s Children’s Division<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher Penguin Random House Canada<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Author Profile by Inderjit Deogum in Quill & Quire<\/a> website, posted 25 May 2022<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Xiran Jay Zhao immigrated to Canada from China. They are a graduate of Simon Fraser University where they studied biochemistry while also writing “outlandish sci-fi and fantasy books.” Zhao describes themself as “raised by the Internet” and maintains numerous social … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":113,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-14439","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14439"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14439\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19480,"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14439\/revisions\/19480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}