Eddy Boudel Tan
Eddy Boudel Tan writes fiction that isn't easily defined. He was selected as a Writers' Trust Rising Star in 2021 for his novels After Elias and The Rebellious Tide, which were shortlisted for the Edmund White Award and the Ferro-Grumley Award. His latest novel, The Tiger and the Cosmonaut, was a finalist for the Giller Prize and named one of the best books of 2025 by The Globe and Mail. His short stories can be found in Joyland, Yolk, and various literary journals and anthologies. As a queer Chinese Canadian author, he is committed to being a voice for his communities through his work. Eddy lives in Vancouver with his husband where he's currently writing his fourth novel while being distracted by the birds outside his balcony.
Writers & Books
Program History
2021 - Rising Star
Rising Stars
Selected by
Brian Francis
Citation
Eddy Boudel Tan puts his heart on every page. You can see it beating in his language, sense it pulsing beneath his characters’ skins, and feel it breaking in the lives he lays bare in his novels. He isn’t afraid of exploring the tangled messes we make or the complicated roads we take in our pursuit of happiness and redemption. It’s exciting to read a writer open to taking big chances at the start of his career, someone willing to write boldly, to not make excuses for characters, or give readers an easy way out. Boudel Tan is a writer who will only travel deeper as he progresses, and that heart will inevitably beat more strongly in the years to come.