{"id":568,"date":"2012-06-15T19:35:08","date_gmt":"2012-06-15T19:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/library.ryerson.ca\/asianheritage\/authors\/madeleine-thien\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T16:29:46","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T20:29:46","slug":"thien_madeleine","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/authors\/thien_madeleine\/","title":{"rendered":"Madeleine Thien"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Madeleine Thien, a Vancouver native, was born to parents who are Malaysian-Chinese immigrants. She graduated from the University of British Columbia’s prestigious MFA program in creative writing. Thien received the Canadian Authors\u2019 Association\/Air Canada Award for most promising writer under the age of 30 in 2001, and previously won the Asian Canadian Writers\u2019 Workshop Emerging Writer Award based on the manuscript for her short story collection Simple Recipes<\/em>. She is a former editor of Ricepaper<\/a> magazine.  Madeleine Thien received the 2010 Ovid Festival Prize for an international writer of promise.  Thien’s literary criticism and journalism has appeared in many Canadian and international publications. Thien is the 2024 winner of the Writers\u2019 Trust Engel Findley Award, awarded to a mid-career writer who works predominantly in fiction.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Fiction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Book of Records<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Toronto: Knopf Canada, 2025.
PS8589.H449 B66 2025<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

In “The Sea,” a sprawling, mysterious building-complex that endlessly receives migrants from everywhere and seems to exist somewhere outside of normal space and time, adolescent Lina cares for her ailing father. Having landed at The Sea with only what could be carried by hand, Lina grows up with nothing but a trio of books to read\u2014three volumes in a series about the lives of famous “voyagers” of the past. Soon, however, she discovers three eccentric neighbours in the building who have stories of their own to share. These neighbours are Bento (who bears an uncanny resemblance to Baruch Spinoza), a Jewish scholar in seventeenth-century Amsterdam who was excommunicated for his radical thought; Blucher (whose life mirrors Hannah Arendt), a philosopher whose academic promise in 1930s Germany became a quest to survive Nazi persecution; and Jupiter (or shades of Du Fu), a poet of Tang Dynasty China whose brilliance went unrecognised by the state, and whose dependence on fickle patrons barely sustained him while lesser artists thrived.

As she grows up in the building, Lina spends many hours listening to the fascinating tales of these friends. But it is only when she is finally told her father\u2019s account of how the two of them came to reside in The Sea that she truly understands the unbearable cost of betrayal in her own life. And the combined force of these stories soon sets her on her own path into the unknown future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

2025 Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Literary Award for Fiction <\/a>(Quebec Writers’ Federation)(Winner)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Fiction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Certainty<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2006.
PS8589 .H449 C47 2006<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher’s Synopsis (from its Spring 2006 catalog)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Gail Lim, a producer of radio documentaries in present-day Vancouver, finds herself haunted by events in her parents’ past in wartorn Asia, a past which remains a mystery that fiercely grips her imagination. …
Vivid, poignant, wise, at once sweeping and intimate, Certainty<\/em> is a novel about the legacies of loss, about the dislocations of war and the redemptive qualities of love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

2006 Amazon.ca\/Books in Canada First Novel Award <\/a>(Winner)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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

The Chinese Violin<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Illustrations by Joe Chang.
Vancouver: Whitecap Books, 2001.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher’s Synopsis<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

When Lin Lin and her father move from China to Canada, it feels like nothing will ever by the same again. Learning a new language and making new friends seems impossible, but the gift of a Chinese violin helps to bridge the gap between old and new.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adaptation<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The Chinese Violin<\/a> was released as a short animated film directed by Joe Chang and released as part of the National Film Board of Canada\u2019s Tailspinners series in 2002.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Fiction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Do Not Say We Have Nothing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Toronto: Knopf Canada, 2016.
Popular reading colln
PS8589 .H449 D65 2016<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Madeleine Thien’s new novel is breathtaking in scope and ambition even as it is hauntingly intimate. With the ease and skill of a master storyteller, Thien takes us inside an extended family in China, showing us the lives of two successive generations–those who lived through Mao’s Cultural Revolution in the mid-twentieth century; and the children of the survivors, who became the students protesting in Tiananmen Square in 1989, in one of the most important political moments of the past century. With exquisite writing sharpened by a surprising vein of wit and sly humour, Thien has crafted unforgettable characters who are by turns flinty and headstrong, dreamy and tender, foolish and wise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

2016 Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Literary Award for Fiction <\/a>(Quebec Writers’ Federation)(Finalist)
2016 Scotiabank Giller Prize<\/a> (winner)
2016 Governor General’s Literary Award<\/a>–Fiction, English (winner)
2016 Man Booker Prize<\/a> (finalist)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Fiction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Dogs at the Perimeter<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 2011.
PS8589 .H449 D64 2011<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher’s Synopsis<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

… a beautifully realized and deeply affecting novel about the multiple lives we carry within ourselves. Spare and haunting, intimate and profound, it is an unblinking portrait of loss and recovered humanity that confirms Madeleine Thien as one of the most exciting young novelists in Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

2011 Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction<\/a> (Quebec Writers Federation)(Finalist)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Fiction (Short stories)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Simple Recipes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Toronto: M&S, 2001.
Toronto: M&S, 2002. (Emblem Editions)
PS8589 .H449 S55 2002<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher’s Synopsis (M&S, 2002)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Longing, familiarity, and hope suffuse these stories as they mine the charged territory of relationships — subtly weaving in conflicts between generations and cultures. Thien’s characters in some way want to make amends, to understand the events that have shaped their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

2001 City of Vancouver Book Award<\/a> (Winner)
2001 Commonwealth Book Prize<\/a> –Best First Book–Caribbean and Canada Region (Nominated)
2001 Danuta Gleed Literary Award<\/a> (Runner-up)
2001 Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize (Notable Book)
2002 Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize<\/a> (Winner)
2003 Golden Oak Award–Ontario Library Association (Nominated)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1998 The story “Simple Recipes” was first published in the journal Event<\/em>. It was shortlisted for the 10th annual awarding of The Journey Prize. It appeared in The Journey Prize Anthology: The Best Short Fiction From Canada’s Literary Journals<\/a> (Toronto: M&S, 1998).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Anthology (Non-fiction)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Closer to Home: The Author and the Author Portrait<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

TR681 .A85 B97 2008<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Byrnes, Terence. “Madeleine Thien at a Westmount Home.” In Byrnes, Terence. Closer to Home: The Author and the Author Portrait<\/em>. Montr\u00e9al: V\u00e9hicule Press, 2008, 92-93..<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\"Book<\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Anthology (Non-fiction)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Finding the Words: Writers on Inspiration, Desire, War, Celebrity, Exile, and Breaking the Rules<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

PS8373.1 .FR56 2011<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thien, Madeleine.  “Photocopies of Photocopies: On Bao Ninh.” In Finding the Words: Writers on Inspiration, Desire, War, Celebrity, Exile, and Breaking the Rules<\/em>, edited by Jared Bland.  Toronto: Emblem, 2011, 148-155.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Anthology (Non-fiction)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the Flesh: Twenty Writers Explore the Body<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

PS8367 .B63 I5 2012<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thien, Madeleine . “The Tongue, From Childhood to Dotage.” In In the Flesh: Twenty Writers Explore the Body<\/em>, edited by Kathy Page and Lynne Van Luven. Victoria: Brindle & Glass, 2012, 27-32.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Anthology (Non-fiction)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Reading Writers Reading: Canadian Authors’ Reflections<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Z1039 .A87 R43 2006<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thien, Madeleine. “The Meeting Place.” In Reading Writers Reading: Canadian Authors’ Reflections<\/em>. Danielle Schaub, photographer and ed. Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 2006, 46-47.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Anthology (Non-fiction, Autobiographical)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

V6A: Writing From Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

PS8257 .V35 V2 2012<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thien, Madeleine . “The Fire Before.” In V6A: Writing From Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside<\/em>, edited by John Mikhail Asfour and Elee Kraljii Gardiner. Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2012, 24-31.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Anthology (Non-fiction)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Writing Life<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

PS8367 .A8 W75 2006<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thien, Madeleine . “After the Flood.” In Writing Life: Celebrated Canadian and International Authors on Writing and Life<\/em>, edited by Constance Rooke. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2006, 391-400.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Selected Criticism and Interpretation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Cuder-Dominguez, Pilar. “Portraits of the Artist in Dionne Brand’s What We All Long<\/em> For and Madeleine Thien’s Certainty<\/em>.” Chap. in Crosstalk: Canadian and Global Imaginaries in Dialogue<\/em>, eds. Diana Brydon and Marta Dvor\u00e1k. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2012, 151-167.
PS8057.1 .C76 2012<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Morris, Robyn. “Under Surveillance: Memory, Trauma, and Genocide in Madeleine Thien’s Dogs at the Perimeter<\/em>.” Chap. in Canadian Literature and Cultural Memory<\/em>, eds. Cynthia Sugars and Eleanor Ty. Don Mills, Ont.: Oxford University Press, 2014, 309-321.
PS8101 .H58 C35 2014<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schwab, Dana. “Troublesome Bodies and Lonely Voices: The Embodied Woman in Contemporary Canadian Short Fiction in English.” M.A. diss., University of New Brunswick, 2009.
Available from Proquest Dissertations and Theses<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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

Madeleine Thien personal website<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moser, Elise. “The World Between Us.” Interview<\/a> in Montreal Review of Books<\/em>, October 30, 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher McClelland and Stewart<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher Penguin Random House Canada<\/a> (owner of Knopf Canada imprint)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Canada Writes’ Brief Encounters Short Story Series (CBC, 2012) includes Thien’s “The Room at the Turn of the Corner.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Website for Dogs at the Perimeter<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amnesty International book club selection for Dogs at the Perimeter<\/a> (Jan. 2016)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Madeleine Thien, a Vancouver native, was born to parents who are Malaysian-Chinese immigrants. She graduated from the University of British Columbia’s prestigious MFA program in creative writing. Thien received the Canadian Authors\u2019 Association\/Air Canada Award for most promising writer under … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":16,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-568","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/568","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\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=568"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/568\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21995,"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/568\/revisions\/21995"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}