Quan, Andy 1969-

PERSONAL: Born July 7, 1969, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; son of Joe (a notary public) and Hilda (a scientist) Quan. Ethnicity:“Asian-Canadian (Cantonese origins).”Education: Attended Lester B. Pearson College of the Pacific, 1986-88; Trent University, B.I.S., 1993; York University, M.A., 1994. Hobbies and other interests: Singing and writing songs, cycling.

ADDRESSES: Home— New South Wales, Australia. Office— Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations, P.O. Box 51, Newtown, New South Wales 2042, Australia. E-mail— [email protected].

CAREER: International Lesbian Gay Association, Brussels, Belgium, coordinator, 1994-96; R.S. Health Ltd., London, England, project manager, 1997-98; Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations, New-town, New South Wales, Australia, international policy officer, 1999—. Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, board member, 2001-05; Sydney Gay and Lesbian Community Publishing, board member, 2002-2005.

AWARDS, HONORS: Named writer of the year, Charity Erotic Awards and Sydney Gay and Lesbian Business Association, both 2005, for Six Positions: Sex Writing by Andy Quan.

WRITINGS

(Editor, with Jim Wong Chu, and contributor) Swallowing Clouds: An Anthology of Chinese-Canadian Poetry, Arsenal Pulp Press (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada), 1999.

Slant (poetry), Nightwood Editions (Roberts Creek, British Columbia, Canada), 2001.

Calendar Boy (short stories), New Star Books (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada), 2001.

Six Positions: Sex Writing by Andy Quan, Green Candy Press (San Francisco, CA), 2005.

Work represented in numerous anthologies, including Best Gay Erotica, Cleis Press, annually, 1999-2000, 2002-05;Striking the Wok: Anthology of Contemporary Chinese Canadian Fiction, TSAR Publications;Big Night Out, Penguin Australia;Seminal: Anthology of Gay Male Canadian Poetry, Arsenal Pulp Press; and Boyfriends from Hell, Green Candy Press. Contributor of articles, short stories, essays, and poetry to magazines, including Absinthe, Lustre, Positive Nation, Meanjin, Queer Words, Prism International, Canadian Literature, Modern Words, Freeze-Dried, and Asian Pacific American Journal.

SIDELIGHTS: Andy Quan told CA:“I started writing simply because I loved doing it. As my writing developed, I found pleasure in working toward publication in magazines. I was motivated in my early years of writing to see myself reflected in gay literature. As much as I admired the books I’d read, they were mostly about gay, white, older men in major urban centers in the United States. Why not write about young gay men? About gay men who weren’t white? My early stories were received with some success, which led to the publication of my first short fiction collection, Calendar Boy, which explores the themes of identity, community, coming out, and the intersection between race and sexuality. My latest collection is writings about sex, with many of the stories previously published in anthologies of gay erotica. These stories aim to go beyond simply bringing pleasure to a reader, but to write about, celebrate, and capture sex in its exciting, mundane, charged, and beautiful forms.”