Hi! I’m Char. I’m a Cantonese diaspora writer and settler from the unceded Coast Salish territories of the Pacific Northwest.
Li Charmaine Anne (李倩文; she/they) is a Cantonese diaspora writer and settler who grew up in the unceded xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) territories otherwise known as Vancouver, BC. Her first novel, Crash Landing, won the 2024 Governor General’s Literary Award in Young People’s Literature - Text, the Sheila A. Egoff Prize in Children’s Literature, and the Sunshine Coast Writers and Editors Society Book Award for BC Authors. Shorter works by Charmaine can be found in The Tyee, SAD Mag, Plenitude Magazine, and more. Charmaine holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and English Literature from the University of British Columbia. Char’s influences and inspirations include the rugged natural landscape of the Pacific Northwest, her Chinese heritage, birds, boardsports, and the people and places she has had the privilege of meeting.
Charmaine is currently spending a year in Naarm (otherwise known as Melbourne, Australia) on the lands of the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung and Bunurong / Boon Wurrung peoples of the Kulin.
Updated November 2025
Press
華裔作家李倩文獲加拿大總督文學獎
[Chinese-Canadian Writer Li Charmaine Anne Wins Canadian Governor General’s Literary Award]
星島日報 / Sing Tao Daily
A BC author is among the winners of the 2024 Governor General’s Literary Awards
The Georgia Straight
35 books for Pride month by writers in Canada
CBC
5 Vancouver bookstores to check out on Canadian Independent Bookstore Day
The Vancouver Sun
15 Canadian books for teens and young adults to check out in spring 2024
CBC
Li Charmaine Anne considers how our hobbies shape identity in new short story
CBC Books
Interview With Andrew Buckley
StoryCentric Podcast
5 Questions With Li Charmaine Anne
With Finnian Burnett
Colouring Outside the Lines: 2SLGBTQIA+ Stories and Where We Go from Here
Canadian Children’s Book News (print)
Creator’s Corner: Li Charmaine Anne
Canadian Children’s Book Centre
Appearances & Community Engagement
Judge: Markham Teen Arts Council “Word Up!” Contest — Remote/Markham, ON (forthcoming December 2025)
Mentor: BIPOC Writers Connect with the Writers’ Union of Canada — Online (October 2025)
“Skateboarding, Sexuality, and Storytelling: When Coming-of-Age & Kickflips Collide” with Amy Mattes and Anthony Nerada at Cross and Crows Books — Vancouver, BC (May 2025)
Churchill Secondary School (BC and Yukon Book Prizes) — Vancouver, BC (May 2025)
Gladstone Secondary School (BC and Yukon Book Prizes) — Vancouver, BC (May 2025)
Okanagan Regional Library with Victoria Knoops and Once Upon a Bookstore — Kelowna, BC (January 2025)
Canyon Falls Middle School with Victoria Knoops and Once Upon a Bookstore — Kelowna, BC (January 2025)
Writers in the Classroom (Vancouver Writers Fest) at Templeton Secondary — Vancouver, BC (December 2024)
“Diaspora Debuts” with Yilin Wang, Jane Shi, and Lea Taranto at Massy Arts Society — Vancouver, BC (November 2024)
“Breaking with Tradition” (Kingston WritersFest) with Rosena Fung — Kingston, ON (September 2024)
The Word on the Street Lethbridge — Lethbridge, AB (September 2024)
