Lam's Giller-winning stories to become TV drama

 Vincent Lam accepts the 2006 Scotiabank Giller Prize in TorontoTuesday night.

Lam's Giller-winning stories to become TV drama

Updated Fri. Nov. 10 2006 9:41 PM ET

Canadian Press

TORONTO -- "Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures," the Giller-winning short story collection by Toronto doctor Vincent Lam, will be developed into a drama series for the Movie Network, Shaftesbury Films announced Friday.

"I'm thrilled to see that my book has started to take on a life of its own," Lam, an emergency room doctor who helped battle the city's 2003 SARS crisis, said in a statement.

"Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures" (Doubleday Canada) comprises 12 interconnected stories about the struggles faced by a group of up-and-coming physicians.

The book is Lam's debut and took home the $40,000 Scotiabank Giller Prize earlier this week.

"We're always looking for fresh new characters on which to base a television series. We believe we have found this in Vincent Lam's book which provides us with a fresh take on the medical profession," said Christina Jennings of Toronto-based Shaftesbury Films.

Lam's book is well-suited to the Movie Network, added Michelle Marion, a spokeswoman for the pay-TV channel.

"'ER' is a medical drama for conventional television. 'Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures' is a medical drama for pay television," she said.

"You think you are in for a journey through the expected world of what you know about doctors and medicine, and instead you are treated to an unexpected, almost metaphoric journey of doctors dealing with powerful internal conflict and beautiful human frailty in ways that catch the reader off-guard."

Lam's writing career received a significant boost about three years ago when he met acclaimed author Margaret Atwood while working as a doctor on a ship.

She agreed to read his manuscript and has continued to support his career.

Shaftesbury Films, coincidentally, recently co-produced a TV movie of Atwood's "The Robber Bride," set to air on CBC early next year.

Lam has said he has no plans to give up his medical career in favour of full-time writing.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20061110/vincent_lam_061110/20061110?s_name=giller2006&no_ads=

St. Pius X grad wins Giller Prize for debut novel

MARGARET SAMBOL
NTW Staff

Dr. Vincent Lam, the
2006 Giller Prize winner,
has some simple advice for
students attending his former
high school St. Pius
X in Nepean: read a lot of
books.

Lam was awarded the
prize at a Nov. 7 gala for his
fiction debut Bloodletting
and Miraculous Cures. He
didn’t expect to win so he
didn’t have a speech prepared.

“It was quite a shock,”
Lam says. “I don’t think it
hit me for a full day or two.
It was kind of like I was
watching myself hugging
my wife and my publisher.
It was unreal – like it was a
movie about me.”

The book is a collection
of 12 short stories that follow
the lives of four medical
students, Chen, Ming,
Fitz and Sri, as they take on
new challenges and transition
into their lives as doctors.
Lam, who now lives in
Toronto with his wife, grew
up in Ottawa and attended
several Nepean schools.
He says the education he
received here helped him
to succeed.

“I definitely learned how
to learn from my education
at Our Lady of Good
Counsel (now closed), St.
Rita, Frank Ryan and St.
Pius. In conjunction with
my violin lessons, it taught
me how to learn and how to
be self-critical,” Lam says.

Some of Lam’s memories
from his time in
Ottawa made their way
into Bloodletting and
Miraculous Cures in a
more fictionalized version.
One of the stories, the Long
Migration, tells of Chen
visiting his grandfather in
Australia, which draws on
some of the emotions Lam
felt while making a similar
trip as a young man.

ALWAYS A
GOOD WRITER

Lam recently received
a note from his former
English teacher at St. Pius,
Steve Durnin, which included
some marking sheets
from high school. Lam’s
good grade on a short story
assignment may have foretold
his future success in
writing.

“Steve Durnin taught me
it’s okay to do weird things
and throw all your energy
at it. He would still see the
value in it,” Lam says.
Durnin says Lam was
always a good writer, but
had terrible penmanship.

“He was a very intelligent
student. He was light
years ahead of everybody
else,” Durnin says.

When Lam was in Grade
9, he was gave Durnin violin
lessons.

Durnin describes Lam as
the kind of student who
could do anything he put
his mind to, whether that
was nuclear physics or
medicine.

“If I had 30 like him in a
class, I’d think I’d died and
gone to heaven,” Durnin
says.

Lam also credits one
of his elementary school
teachers with recognizing
that he wasn’t challenged
enough in his class. She
arranged for him to do his
regular class work in the
morning and attend the
next grade’s classes in the
afternoon so he was able
to pass both grades in one
year. That experience gave
Lam a valuable lesson.

“If you’re not challenged
you should try harder challenges
and not just rest
easy,” Lam says.

ROLE MODEL

The Giller Prize comes
with the largest purse of
any literary fiction award
in Canada with $40,000 for
the winner, and $2,500 for
each of the four finalists.

It also comes with the
unofficial title of role model
to a lot of aspiring writers.
However, Lam says his
medical training has prepared
him somewhat for
that position.

“I don’t think you choose
that role. I think it reveals
itself to you in a sudden
slip of perspective,” Lam
says. He explains how that
transition happens several
times in medical training
going from a medical student
to a resident to staff at
a hospital. “People who are
only three steps behind you
in their training look to you
for direction. You suddenly
realize the responsibility
you have, and not just to
patients.”

Now that Lam is on staff
in a emergency room in
Toronto, he’s become more
comfortable with the idea
of being a teacher.

However, his advice
to others comes from his
experience as a parent.

“I really encourage people
to read to their kids and
spend time telling stories.
It’s such an incredible thing
to do together as a family,”
Lam says.

INSPIRING
FUTURE WRITERS

Durnin has read
Bloodletting and
Miraculous Cures and says
he would consider using it
in his upper level English
classes next semester.

“I was very impressed
with both the idea and the
content style. I was surprised
that this was his first
piece of writing. He has
mastered the craft of fiction.
The short stories knit
into a novel,” Durnin says.

Durnin is hoping having
a Giller Prize winner
as an alumnus of St. Pius
will motivate his current
students.

“Often times students
are unaware of the potential
and talent they have.
Lots of kids do writing and
poetry, but most are very
personal, quiet and humble
about it,” Durnin says,
adding that Lam’s example
shows students that writing
can be a way of life.

http://www.nepeanthisweek.com/Papers/ntw-20061121.pdf