Reflections on a Life So Far

by Evelyn Lau

Twelve years after the publication of her bestselling memoir, Runaway: Diary of a Street Kid, Evelyn Lau reflects on her life, her relationships, and her identity as a writer.

Moving seamlessly between past and present, Lau describes how her complex, painful relationship with her parents has shaped her adult desires, thwarting her efforts to connect with both men and women.

She recalls her dangerous battle with bulimia and examines her continued struggle against crippling depression. Revisiting her life as a prostitute, she explores the extent to which it continues to distort both her perception of herself and the perceptions others have of her. Lau now values home above almost everything else and traces this new attitude back to her time on the streets. Above all, she considers her life as a writer, remembering the force with which her childhood passion for writing was once suppressed. She reveals the supreme importance she has come to place on her writing and explains her controversial willingness to breach the boundaries between public and private in the name of art.

Beautifully written, each of these pieces is remarkable for its startling honesty, sensitivity, and painful insight. With Inside Out Evelyn Lau, an author of superb poetry and fiction, establishes herself as an accomplished non-fiction writer.

PRAISE FOR INSIDE OUT

“With Inside Out, Lau's precociously prodigious writing skills have refined and intensified.... Rich and illuminating.”  — THE GLOBE AND MAIL

“Combining a razor-sharp eye for detail, rhythm so rich that the words at times seem to dance, and descriptions so on-the-mark that they elicit a readerly ‘thank you,’ Lau has deliberately constructed a book that is as much about the writer’s craft as about the author’s life.”  — THE VANCOUVER SUN

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256 pages hardcover
Finished books available

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Canada: Doubleday, Mar 2001

ABOUT EVELYN LAU

(Photo: Lorne Bridgman)

Evelyn Lau has written seven books, including the bestselling short-story collection Choose Me. Her first book, Runaway: Diary of a Street Kid, was published in 1989 when she was eighteen; it became a Canadian bestseller and was published internationally. In 1992, Lau became the youngest poet ever to be nominated for the Governor General's Award, and in 1999, she received a Woman of Originality Award. Evelyn Lau lives and works in Vancouver.