Winnie Yeung is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

school teacher and writer who co-wrote ''Homes: A Refugee Story'' with high school student Abu Bakr Al-Rabeeah.

Teaching

In 2010,

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

i student Al-Rabeeah moved with his family to

Homs Homs ( , , , ; ar, حِمْص / ALA-LC: ; Levantine Arabic: / ''Ḥomṣ'' ), known in pre-Islamic Syria as Emesa ( ; grc, Ἔμεσα, Émesa), is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is Metres above sea level ...

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

, but were soon forced to move again due to the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War."Edmonton teacher helps refugee tell his story"

CBC News CBC News is a division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC.ca. ...

Edmonton, June 23, 2016. He and his family moved to

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

in 2014, where Yeung was his English as a second language teacher."The Syrian boy who wrote his life story – with the help of his Canadian teacher"
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', May 12, 2018. She encouraged him to tell his own life stories as a way to practice English and began recording them.

''Homes''

The co-authored memoir was self-published in 2016, before being picked up for commercial republication by

Freehand Books Freehand Books is a Canadian literary imprint started in 2007 by Broadview Press, a Canadian academic publisher. Freehand publishes literary fiction, literary non-fiction, memoir and poetry. In its first season in 2008, Freehand published ''Good To ...

in 2018. It was a shortlisted finalist for the

Governor General's Award for English-language non-fiction The Governor General's Award for English-language non-fiction is a Canadian literary award that annually recognizes one Canadian writer for a non-fiction book written in English. Since 1987 it is one of fourteen Governor General's Awards for Litera ...

at the

2018 Governor General's Awards The shortlisted nominees for the 2018 Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit were announced on October 3, 2018,Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing The Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing is a Canadian literary award, presented by the Writers' Trust of Canada to the best nonfiction book on Canadian political and social issues. It has been presented annually in Ottawa at the Writers� ...

. It was selected for the 2019 edition of '' Canada Reads'', where it was defended by

Chuck Comeau Charles-André "Chuck" Comeau (born 17 September 1979) is a Canadian musician and drummer, best known for being the drummer of the rock band Simple Plan. He also founded the apparel company Role Model Clothing along with his bandmate Pierre Bouvi ...

."Chuck Comeau, Joe Zee, Lisa Ray take on Canada Reads battle of the books"
CityNews, January 31, 2019.

References

Living people Writers from Edmonton 21st-century Canadian non-fiction writers 21st-century Canadian women writers 21st-century women educators 21st-century Canadian educators Canadian women educators Year of birth missing (living people) {{Canada-writer-stub