Jenny Heijun Wills

For those navigating life across borders and cultures, "identity" can often feel like an intricate, lifetime puzzle. In particular, the life and work of author Jenny Heijun Wills—who was born in Korea and adopted into a white Canadian family—articulates the nuances of cultural disconnection and alienation with striking clarity and poetic precision. Currently a professor of English at the University of Winnipeg and a celebrated voice in Canadian letters—having been a winner and a finalist for the prestigious Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction—Wills offers a profound point of connection for readers who see their own fragmented experiences reflected in her prose.

The first book to establish her distinct voice was her 2019 memoir, Older Sister. Not Necessarily Related. The text chronicles the four months the author spent in Seoul just before turning thirty, reuniting with her biological mother, father, and siblings. The literary community responded immediately to its depth; The Globe and Mail selected it as one of the "100 Books that Shaped 2019," and the CBC named it among the year's best nonfiction. The jury for the Hilary Weston Prize praised the work as "finely observed, candid, and a growth toward deep understanding."

Five years later, Wills expanded on these themes with Everything and Nothing At All, a collection of essays offering even broader cultural reflections. A finalist for the 2024 Hilary Weston Prize, the book solidifies her place as an essential contemporary intellectual. Author Joshua Whitehead called the collection "an essential intellectual document," while Mattea Roach praised it as "an unparalleled expression of the international adoptee experience."