Communist Revolution results in the takeover of Samâs property and theatres. Sam and Poldi leave Shanghai in 1948, ahead of the Communist revolution, but Poldi does not gain US citizenship.
1950s: Sam and Poldi spend the 1950s in the Ruxton Hotel on W. 72nd street in New York City.
1961: Long Tack Sam passes away, the cause of his death rumoured to be from gangrene developed after improper treatment for a broken femur.
       A UTHOR C OMMENTARY
I had recently finished my feature-animated doc, The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam , about the search for my great-grandfather, who was a world-famous globe-hopping Chinese vaudevillian acrobatand magician, when Ricepaper asked me to write a piece about him. I saw this as an opportunity to try and encapsulate the essential trajectory of his life with no embellishments (not that his life needed much) and to open his story up to a new audience who may not have the opportunity to see the film. Later, I was asked to adapt the film into a graphic novel with the same title, which won the Doug Wright Award for Best Book in 2008. â Ann Marie Fleming, 2015
       A BOUT THE A UTHOR
Ann Marie Fleming is an award-winning Canadian independent filmmaker, writer, and artist, born in Okinawa, of Chinese and Australian parentage. Her film work incorporates various techniques: animation, documentary, experimental, dramatic, and often deals with themes of family, history, and memory.
Runaway Writer
Ricepaper 10, no. 3 (2006)
Alexis Kienlen
There is a mystique that surrounds Evelyn Lau. It may be because Evelynâs work is so personal, and as a result people have a hard time separating her from her work. Or it may be because sheâs had such an extraordinary life.
At the age of fourteen, in 1986, Evelyn left her parents and ran away from home. In 1989, she burst on to the literary scene with Runaway: Diary of a Street Kid . The sordid tale of a teenage prostitute was groundbreaking subject matter in the early nineties and drew a lot of attention from the unsuspecting media. The diary is a gutsy and disturbing first-person recollection of life as a prostitute and drug addict in Vancouverâs Downtown Eastside.
Evelyn began writing as a child, and itâs possible that the writing kept her sane and alive while growing up under the watchful eye of strict parents who detested her creativity. With the success of Runaway at the age of eighteen, Evelyn went on to publish poetry, prose, and personal essays. In 1990, at the age of twenty, she won the Milton Acorn Memorial Peopleâs Poetry Award for You Are Not Who You Claim , her first book of poetry. She has also been nominated for a Governor Generalâs Award for Poetry for Oedipal Dreams , and she received a Canadian Authors Association award for âMost Promising Writer.â Her prose books, mostly concerned with the rigours and sadomasochistic dramas of sex, have been translated into more than a dozen languages.
Everything Iâve heard about Evelyn swims around inside my head. Iâve heard that sheâs a quiet and private person, despite her public past, and doesnât want to be associated with the Chinese-Canadian community. Who is the real Evelyn Lau?
As I prepare for our interview, I contemplate how her writing has evolved. Inside Out , a collection of personal essays, touched on tough subjects like the effects of a lawsuit on her writing, as well as her struggle with depression and bulimia. Published twelve years after Runaway , the book reflects her recent years and proves sheâs become more comfortable in her skin. Recently, a collection of poetry, Treble , hit the shelves. The flower that graces the cover of Treble contrasts with the darker images that marked her earlier works. It is a peaceful emblem, homely even, something that you might see on the cover of a Martha Stewart magazine. Compared to the dark, deeply sexy imagery of Evelyn on her
1950s: Sam and Poldi spend the 1950s in the Ruxton Hotel on W. 72nd street in New York City.
1961: Long Tack Sam passes away, the cause of his death rumoured to be from gangrene developed after improper treatment for a broken femur.
       A UTHOR C OMMENTARY
I had recently finished my feature-animated doc, The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam , about the search for my great-grandfather, who was a world-famous globe-hopping Chinese vaudevillian acrobatand magician, when Ricepaper asked me to write a piece about him. I saw this as an opportunity to try and encapsulate the essential trajectory of his life with no embellishments (not that his life needed much) and to open his story up to a new audience who may not have the opportunity to see the film. Later, I was asked to adapt the film into a graphic novel with the same title, which won the Doug Wright Award for Best Book in 2008. â Ann Marie Fleming, 2015
       A BOUT THE A UTHOR
Ann Marie Fleming is an award-winning Canadian independent filmmaker, writer, and artist, born in Okinawa, of Chinese and Australian parentage. Her film work incorporates various techniques: animation, documentary, experimental, dramatic, and often deals with themes of family, history, and memory.
Runaway Writer
Ricepaper 10, no. 3 (2006)
Alexis Kienlen
There is a mystique that surrounds Evelyn Lau. It may be because Evelynâs work is so personal, and as a result people have a hard time separating her from her work. Or it may be because sheâs had such an extraordinary life.
At the age of fourteen, in 1986, Evelyn left her parents and ran away from home. In 1989, she burst on to the literary scene with Runaway: Diary of a Street Kid . The sordid tale of a teenage prostitute was groundbreaking subject matter in the early nineties and drew a lot of attention from the unsuspecting media. The diary is a gutsy and disturbing first-person recollection of life as a prostitute and drug addict in Vancouverâs Downtown Eastside.
Evelyn began writing as a child, and itâs possible that the writing kept her sane and alive while growing up under the watchful eye of strict parents who detested her creativity. With the success of Runaway at the age of eighteen, Evelyn went on to publish poetry, prose, and personal essays. In 1990, at the age of twenty, she won the Milton Acorn Memorial Peopleâs Poetry Award for You Are Not Who You Claim , her first book of poetry. She has also been nominated for a Governor Generalâs Award for Poetry for Oedipal Dreams , and she received a Canadian Authors Association award for âMost Promising Writer.â Her prose books, mostly concerned with the rigours and sadomasochistic dramas of sex, have been translated into more than a dozen languages.
Everything Iâve heard about Evelyn swims around inside my head. Iâve heard that sheâs a quiet and private person, despite her public past, and doesnât want to be associated with the Chinese-Canadian community. Who is the real Evelyn Lau?
As I prepare for our interview, I contemplate how her writing has evolved. Inside Out , a collection of personal essays, touched on tough subjects like the effects of a lawsuit on her writing, as well as her struggle with depression and bulimia. Published twelve years after Runaway , the book reflects her recent years and proves sheâs become more comfortable in her skin. Recently, a collection of poetry, Treble , hit the shelves. The flower that graces the cover of Treble contrasts with the darker images that marked her earlier works. It is a peaceful emblem, homely even, something that you might see on the cover of a Martha Stewart magazine. Compared to the dark, deeply sexy imagery of Evelyn on her
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