My books mirror images of Chinese people back to themselves.

I had to learn about these things much later in life. He addresses the question of why he writes about Chinese-Canadians on his website, stating: 'When I was a child, growing up in the 1960s, there were no books about my world-the world of immigrants, racial minorities, and different histories. Yee writes primarily about the Chinese-Canadian experience, both historically and presently. The piece was translated from English to Chinese and performed in both languages by Tommy Tao. In 2011, he created a poem to accompany the Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra's performance of an original composition by Jin Zhang. Yee's first original play, Jade in the Coal, premiered at the Frederic Wood Theatre in Vancouver on November 25, 2010. One of his books for children, Ghost Train, was adapted as a play by Betty Quan and performed by the Young Peoples Theatre in Toronto in 2001. Since then, he has published over twenty-five distinct works - including children's books, young adult books, short stories, and non-fiction books for adults. He has stated that his career as a writer is 'a fluke' as it was Lorimer that approached Yee, wanting a knowledgeable person to create a book set in Vancouver's Chinatown neighborhood. Paul Yee's first book, titled Teach Me to Fly, Skyfighter! And Other Stories and illustrated by Sky Lee, was published in 1983 by James Lorimer & Company.

The Curses of Third Uncle by Paul Yee