Slant [Paperback]

Andy Quan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2001

Sharp, accessible and witty, Slant offers a fresh exploration of issues of race, sexuality, and life in the global village. The collection alternates between three main themes of childhood and family in the Chinese diaspora; gay sexuality, community and rites-of-passage; and voyages literal and metaphorical. Slant asks "how do we belong?" and answers in a voice that is compelling and unique.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Andy Quan was born in 1969 in Vancouver, British Columbia, a third-generation Chinese-Canadian and fifth-generation Chinese-American with roots in the villages of Canton. His short fiction has appeared in many anthologies and is collected in his first book of short stories, Calendar Boy (New Star Books, 2001). He is co-editor and a contributor to Swallowing Clouds: An Anthology of Chinese-Canadian Poetry. Andy is a singer and songwriter, and had a featured acting role in Canadian video-maker Richard Fung's Dirty Laundry. After living in Toronto, London, and Brussels, Andy is currently living in Sydney, Australia where he works for the Australian Federation of AIDS Organizations.

Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: Nightwood; 1 edition (January 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0889711798
• ISBN-13: 978-0889711792
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,451,567 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Andy Quan is the author of four books, one of short fiction, Calendar Boy, two of poetry, Slant and Bowling Pin Fire, and one of gay erotica, Six Positions. He was the co-editor of Swallowing Clouds, an Anthology of Chinese Canadian Poetry. His work has appeared in a broad range of anthologies, magazines and literary reviews in Australia, Canada, and elsewhere. His work often deals with the themes of identity, community, and culture.

Awards include the Charity Erotic Awards Writer of the Year 2005 and the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Business Association Writer of the Year 2005.

Born in Vancouver of Cantonese origin, Andy has lived in Toronto, Brussels, and London before settling in Sydney, where he risks his life riding his bike to and from work as a consultant on international and regional HIV issues. He is a Cancerian by Western Astrology, a Cock by Chinese, and an enneagram 4 (predictably, for a writer).

A singer and songwriter, he has self-produced tapes and CDs. He has also appeared in a video by Canadian filmmaker Richard Fung entitled "Dirty Laundry" which examined issues of sexuality for Canada's first Chinese immigrants.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Souvenirs, August 28, 2001

By 

David Edler (Sydney Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Slant (Paperback)

Poetry when it works speaks intimatley to our personal experiences in a language we didn't know we understood. Andy Quan acheives this and more in Slant his first published collection of poems. It isn't easy to avoid the snare of identity politics in considering Quan's work.Canadian born, of Chinese descent this young gay poet has many hands he could play however his poetry wonderfully resonates to the cards we have all been dealt. The feeling of being a stranger, the exhiliration/terror of leaving the familiar behind be it a place or a person, the sudden wonder at our origins brought on by the death of a grandparent,the first night spent in a strange bed with an unfamiliar body. All of these and other experiences are unpacked like the souvenirs of a long journey, dusted and polished by Quan's extraordinary use of words and presented to us for inspection, inevidably causing us to say, Oh I've been there too. Such a young poet who has travelled so far surely has many more travel tales to tell. I look forward to hearing them.