Winnie Yeung

WinnieYeung's book Homes, co-written with Abu Bakral Rabeeah, will be defended by Chuck Comeau on Canada Reads 2019.

The 2019 debates are happening March 25-28, 2019 and will be hosted byAliHassan.

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About Winnie Yeung

Winnie Yeungis an English teacher from Edmonton, Alta. She published her first book,Homes,with Abu Bakral Rabeeah, in 2018. The book is an account of al Rabeeah'sexperience as a young boy in Syria during the civil war and his family's journey to safety in Canada.

Homeswas a finalist for the 2018 Governor General's Literary Award for nonfiction.

• Abu Bakr al Rabeeah, teenage refugee from Syria, tells his story with help from his teacher Winnie Yeung
• Syrian refugee and his ESL teacher turn writing exercise into literary nomination
• Edmonton teacher helps refugee tell his story

What Winnie Yeung learned writing Homes

"As a teacher I ask my students to write so much and I forget that it's an exercise in vulnerability. You're putting yourself out there. For me, I had to push through my own fears and insecurities about writing just so that I get through it and literally hand the pages over to AbuBakr.

The best gift that we can give to anyone who's going through any kind of trauma, big or small,just to listen.- Winnie Yeung

"The thing that I learned the most is just to push through those scary insecure parts in writing. Listening became the thing that I had to learn how to doin terms of trying to listen without my own preconceived notionsgetting in the way that was big. As a teacher especially,we're so used to jumping in and offering comfort or offering advice.To be able to just sit back and be quiet and let AbuBakrtell the story that he needed to, that was hard for me to do. Now I'm realizing that is the best gift that we can give to anyone who's going through any kind of trauma, big or small,just to listen."

Read more in Winnie Yeung's interview with CBC Books.

• Read an excerpt from Homes
• Why Chuck Comeau is defending Homes by Abu Bakr al Rabeeah and Winnie Yeung on Canada Reads

Books by Winnie Yeung

Interviews withWinnieYeung

Abu Bakr al Rabeeah & Winnie Yeung on why we need to understand the refugee experience

6 years ago

Duration 3:52

In this special Canada Reads 2019 edition of the CBC Books' video series, the co-authors of Homes talk about how caring for others is a part of our shared humanity.

The Candy Palmater Show13:22How one teacher helped a teenage refugee tell his story

Winnie didn't imagine at first that she would write a novel based on Syrian refugee Abu Bakr al-Rabeeah's life, but that's exactly what happened. Homes, a novel based on her student's story, has topped the bestseller list in Edmonton.