‘The hardest book I have ever written’: B.C.'s Eddy Boudel Tan reflects on his Giller Prize-shortlisted novel

Luke Beirne · CBC Books

· Posted: Nov 07, 2025 11:41 AM EST | Last Updated: 2 hours ago

When Eddy Boudel Tan archetypal pitched his caller The Tiger and the Cosmonaut, his exertion looked astatine him and said, "So, archer me, what is this publication about?"

“This is simply a publication astir Asian rage," Boudel Tan told his editor.

"I had ne'er truly articulated oregon described my publication rather successful that mode before, but if my extremity was to drawback [my editor's] attraction it worked. He was intrigued and helium asked maine to elaborate."

Boudel Tan did, explaining however the publication was a depiction of the acquisition of being a second-generation migrant successful Canada, which helium described arsenic "feeling somewhat caught betwixt cultures."

The Tiger and the Cosmonaut features a Chinese Canadian protagonist named Casper Han who is forced to question backmost to the fictional B.C.-based distant municipality of Wilhelm to uncover the enigma of his father’s caller disappearance.

Boudel Tan's parents are from Brunei; helium was calved successful Canada, and grew up arsenic a Canadian citizen, but was consistently asked, "Where are you from?" by radical astir him. Because of that, helium described his acquisition increasing up successful Canada arsenic "the feeling of being othered successful a spot that is home."

The Tiger and the Cosmonaut is Boudel Tan's 3rd publication and is connected the shortlist for the 2025 Giller Prize.

The different 4 shortlisted titles for the $100,00 prize see We Love You, Bunny by Mona Awad, The Paris Express by Emma Donoghue, The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus by Emma Knight, and Pick A Colour by Souvankham Thammavongsa.

A idiosyncratic connection

Boudel Tan described The Tiger and the Cosmonaut as, "the hardest publication that I've ever written, and I accidental that due to the fact that it was the astir personal."

Unlike his archetypal 2 novels, which had much region from his lived experience, The Tiger and the Cosmonaut is draws upon Boudel Tan's lived acquisition and identity.

He says that helium wrote the publication to honour families similar his who person migrated to Canada, "who are raising children who they privation to integrate and prosper successful this onshore portion besides honouring their heritage."

While penning the book, helium had a hunger to find retired much astir his ain parents and household history.

"This was during the acheronian days of the pandemic," helium said. "I began to recognize that my parents were aging and that they weren't going to beryllium astir forever."

Boudel Tan's outdoor penning abstraction astatine his Vancouver condo. (Eddy Boudel Tan)

Because of this, helium started to inquire his parents questions astir their ain lives and experiences.

“All of this was besides amid a backdrop of rising hatred against Asians," said Boudel Tan. "During this time, determination was a crisp summation successful vandalism connected Asian taste buildings and institutions, vocal and carnal assaults against Asian Canadians and Asian Americans.”

The stories helium heard from his parents weren’t each astir difficulties but included “many joyful and breathtaking stories.” Moving to Canada “was an escapade for them. They told maine astir what it was similar to spell buying for wintertime coats for the archetypal clip successful their lives and however breathtaking that was.”

He besides said that helium tried thing caller with his penning process.

"I utilized to crippled my books meticulously due to the fact that each of my enactment has antithetic storylines and threads that astatine immoderate constituent travel unneurotic and it tin get rather complicated."

In fact, helium said helium would "go truthful acold arsenic to crippled [his] books with an Excel spreadsheet."

"Every country would beryllium successful a compartment and that's however I plotted my publication to marque definite that it each acceptable unneurotic similar a jigsaw puzzle."

But, with this book, "I fto the communicative propulsion maine much and took it 1 section astatine a time," helium said.

Though helium ever knew the basal thought of the story, helium allowed the caller to unfold arsenic "organically" arsenic helium could.

This turned retired good due to the fact that the caller took connected enigma and suspense elements that Boudel Tan said made it a batch much interesting.

"Instead of penning a communicative that was explicitly astir contention and class, I wrote a communicative astir contention and people that was disguised arsenic a enigma and I deliberation that served the communicative truly well."

He talked astir the mode that this was influenced by his ain speechmaking taste.

"One of my compulsions seems to beryllium to obscure definite things for the reader," helium said.

"I don't mean to bash this, astatine slightest consciously, but erstwhile I work books, I emotion being taken for a ride. I emotion surprises, I emotion revelations. Like, I emotion it erstwhile a communicative reveals itself gradually and, arsenic the pieces travel together, forms a wide representation of the truth."

Boudel Tan said this is reflective of existent beingness "especially successful this property erstwhile there's truthful overmuch distortion of the truth, truthful overmuch misinformation and disinformation. The information is not ever truthful evident, truthful I deliberation that there's thing that rings precise existent astir however distorted information tin be."