The Spirits Have Nothing to Do with Us: New Chinese Canadian Fiction
Dan K. Woo
May 23, 2023
152 PAGES | ISBN 978-1-989496-67-1
The Spirits Have Nothing to Do with Us is an anthology of fascinating and singular short stories from some of the best Chinese Canadian authors writing today.
Assembled by Dan K. Woo, who was named a Canadian author to watch by CBC in 2022, the stories in the anthology span a wide variety of Chinese Canadian voices, experiences and styles. The collection has contributions from established writers such Sam Cheuk, Sheung-King and Lydia Kwa; up-and-coming voices such as Isabella Wang and even a story available for the first time in English from Bingji Ye. From the practiced fielding of family questions by young women in a Hong Kong living room to a child’s ghost searching for a way to move to the next world to a family living with the unsettling sounds of constant explosions an industrial district on the edges of Beijing, each story is a stunning window into a world new to many North American readers. The Spirits Have Nothing to Do with Us is a powerful and elegant collection of stories that works to redefine Chinese Canadian writing.
List of Contributors
Eddy Boudel Tan, Ellen Chang-Richardson, Sam Cheuk, Anna Ling Kaye, Lydia Kwa, Sheung-King, Isabella Wang, Yilin Wang, Dan K. Woo and Bingji Ye.
Reviews
Book Review: The Spirits Have Nothing To Do With Us, Edited by Dan K. Woo (Anne Logan, I've Read This, 05/03/2024)
"A quick but varied collection of stories that opened up new worlds to me."
The Spirits Have Nothing to Do with Us: New Chinese Canadian Fiction, edited by Dan K. Woo (Jocelyn Reekie, Miramichi Reader, 12/06/2023)
"These are stories of place and the influences places have on the characters’ beliefs, thoughts, actions and inactions. They’re about the influences the characters’ pasts and the people in their lives, living or dead, exert on their lives.... They reveal and explore universal human conditions: love, loss, celebration, sorrow, courage and cowardice. They are about the here and now, and transcending the here and now. They are enlightening and thought-provoking works."
Articles
Reads for Asian Heritage Month (All Lit Up, 05/05/2025)
Lovely to see this anthology as part of this roundup for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
Short Story Collections to Delight & Unsettle (Hollay Ghadery, 49th Shelf, 03/09/2024)
The Spirits Have Nothing to Do with Us is included in this cool roundup.
Summer is here, and the reading is amazing. These are the 20 best books to pile by your hammock (Deborah Dundas, Toronto Star, 02/06/2023)
Toronto Star books editor Deb Dundas has compiled her best-of-summer reads list, and it includes The Spirits Have Nothing to Do with Us: New Chinese Canadian Fiction.
Collected Collections: The Anthologized (All Lit Up, 30/05/2023)
For the last day of Short Story month it's lovely to see The Spirits have Nothing To Do with Us in this All Lit Up roundup.
Dan K. Woo on editing an anthology of new Chinese Canadian writing (Carol Eugene Park, Quill & Quire, 17/05/2023)
Dan K. Woo and The Spirits Have Nothing to Do with Us are profiled in Quill & Quire.
Most Anticipated: Our 2023 Spring Fiction Preview (49th Shelf, 20/01/2023)
Dan's anthology is included on this list of books you're going to love during the first half of 2023.
2023 Spring Preview: Fiction and Poetry (Attila Berki, Cassandra Drudi and Andrew Woodrow-Butcher, Quill & Quire, 11/01/2023)
Dan's anthology is included in this roundup of Spring fiction and poetry.