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Madeleine Thien

Madeleine Thien is a Canadian novelist who was born in Vancouver to Malaysian-Chinese parents. She is the author of the story collection Simple Recipes (2001), and two novels, Certainty (2006) and Dogs at the Perimeter (2011).

February 2026

  • Cees Nooteboom in 2017.

    double quotation markThe bristling wit and melancholy of Cees Nooteboom came to me when I needed it most

    Madeleine Thien
    The great Dutch travel writer, who died this week, found history inscribed in every place he visited, all while remaining accountable to the present

May 2025

  • Madeleine Thien

    The books of my life
    Madeleine Thien: ‘I ran in blizzards and -20C – all I wanted was to listen to Middlemarch’

    The Canadian author on mountain running to George Eliot, powerful reminders from Omar El Akkad and the translation that brought Homer’s Iliad to life

July 2021

  • (FILES) This file photo dated 01 August 2004 shows soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army of China (PLA) marching in Hong Kong. CIA director Porter Goss warned 16 February 2005 while testifying before the US Senate Intellegence Committe in Washington, DC that China’s military buildup could tilt the strategic balance with Taiwan and also threaten US forces in Asia. AFP PHOTO/POOL/FILES (Photo credit should read VINCENT YU/AFP/Getty Images)

    Hard Like Water by Yan Lianke review – language as a weapon

    Contradiction is at the heart of this sharp analysis of the logic of ideology, set during the Cultural Revolution

February 2021

  • From left: Rumaan Alam, Ian Rankin, Madeleine Thien, Sarah Perry and Margaret Atwood.

    My favourite Ishiguro: by Margaret Atwood, Ian Rankin and more

  • Lebanese writer Hoda Barakat

    Book of the day
    Voices of the Lost by Hoda Barakat review – migrant stories

September 2020

  • Mieko Kawakami, Japanese author of Breasts and Eggs

    Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami review – an interrogation of the female condition

    Casual intimacies and dreamlike interludes in a bestselling Japanese author’s exploration of freedom and the female body

August 2019

  • Rose petals in the water<br>C11B2C Rose petals in the water

    The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa review – profound allegory of loss

    This Japanese fable about an island where disappearance is a way of life is a masterpiece, meditating on totalitarianism and resistance as well as the rhythms of life and death

November 2018

  • Bleakly funny … Ma Jian.

    Book of the day
    China Dream by Ma Jian review – stinging satire from a novelist in exile

    Buried dreams and past betrayals erupt into the present moment, in a feverish vision of contemporary Chinese society

October 2017

  • Chinatown in San Francisco, photo by John Lawson Stoddard (1850-1931)

    Farewell to the fairy palace: are Chinatowns obsolete?

  • British novelist Kazuo Ishiguro smiles during a press conference at his home in London, Thursday Oct. 5, 2017. Ishiguro, best known for "The Remains of the Day," won the Nobel Literature Prize on Thursday, marking a return to traditional literature following two years of unconventional choices by the Swedish Academy for the 9-million-kronor ($1.1 million) prize. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

    Neil Gaiman, Joyce Carol Oates and more on Kazuo Ishiguro's Nobel win

June 2017

  • Tiananmen Square protest

    Tiananmen Square: the silences left by the massacre

    An account of the Beijing atrocity and its repercussions, using words banned by the Chinese government

October 2016

  • The Booker-shortlisted novels

    How to write a Man Booker novel: six shortlisted authors share their secrets

    Madeleine Thien, David Szalay, Deborah Levy, Paul Beatty, Ottessa Moshfegh and Graeme Macrae Burnet reveal the inspirations behind the books competing for the UK’s top literary prize

September 2016

  • Anna May Wong

    The Fortunes by Peter Ho Davies review – what does it mean to be Chinese-American?

    The stories of real-life Chinese-American figures are reworked in this compelling exploration of prejudice and disconnection

July 2016

  • An outdoor recital, with 160 pianos playing in harmony, in Hangzhou, China.

    After the Cultural Revolution: what western classical music means in China

    The Cultural Revolution had catastrophic consequences for musicians in China, where listening to Beethoven became a political crime. Fifty years on, how have attitudes changed?

May 2015

  • People read at a road library set up by pro-democracy protesters in the Mongkok district of Hong Kong in November 2014.

    Books blog
    Why Hong Kong is clamping down on creative writing

    The decision to close City University’s MFA programme is plainly intended to limit free expression – showing just how vital it is
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