Onjana Yawnghwe
Onjana Yawnghwe is a Shan-Canadian writer and illustrator who was born in Thailand. She grew up in unceded traditional territories of the xÊ·mÉ™θkÊ·É™yÌ“É™m (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and sÉ™lilwÉ™taɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. She has a MA in English literature. Onjana’s books have been nominated for the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize in both 2018 and 2019. Onjana was a co-founder of Fish Magic Press, a micro press specializing in limited-run, hand-made chapbooks, and was a co-editor of Xerography, a little literary journal.
Her first poetry book, Fragments, Desire, was published by Oolichan Books in 2017. Her second book of poetry, The Small Way was published with Caitlin Press in 2018. A third poetry book, We Follow the River, was published with Caitlin Press in 2024. Onjana’s current project includes a graphic novel about her family set in Burma (Myanmar), Thailand, and Canada, as well as a book of Cloud Divination. Onjana lives in the traditional, ancestral, and unceded lands of the Kwikwetlem First Nation (Coquitlam), and works as a registered nurse.
Never Less Than Whole
Read Onjana's commissioned poetry piece created especially for our festival!