Jorah Kai
Jorah Kai’s life, rich in adventure and creativity, spans a wide array of interests, from martial arts and music to technology, travel, food, philosophy, revelry, gaming, and writing. His eclectic experiences—including an early career as a festival-headlining DJ/producer, a full-time existential detective in a part-time city, and a gonzo journalist channeling Hunter S. Thompson’s fire-breathing romanza—eventually led him to cyberpunk Chongqing in 2014. There, he teaches English and art history and, like Hemingway, became a newspaperman, writing and editing for iChongqing, part of the Chongqing Daily News Group, the primary English news desk for the megacity of 34 million people.
When the global pandemic struck in 2020, he experienced a Hemingway-in-Kilimanjaro moment and began writing with urgency—a pursuit he hasn’t stopped since. He gained awards and recognition as the first Canadian journalist in China to report for CTV News Canada in the early days of COVID-19, accurately predicting developments that continued to puzzle world health experts for over a year. Kai has since published several nonfiction books: Kai’s Diary (an international bestseller and one of China’s top 10 books of 2020), The Invisible War, Year of the Rat (featuring his childhood hero Jean-Claude Van Damme and guest writers from around the world), and Aye of the Tiger, a meditation on existentialism and the absurd. His debut novel, the internationally bestselling solarpunk fantasy Amos the Amazing, became a bestseller in children’s steampunk fiction, and his latest work, The Sun Also Rises on Cthulhu, adds a literary-horror twist to his repertoire.
Kai’s writing is cinematic and immersive, rich with creativity, and speaks with the authority of a well-lived life. He enjoys writing on beaches around the world, gazing into the sea; when not stationary, he relishes being on wheels. His imaginative storytelling weaves vivid worlds, reflecting profound insights into the human condition.
When the global pandemic struck in 2020, he experienced a Hemingway-in-Kilimanjaro moment and began writing with urgency—a pursuit he hasn’t stopped since. He gained awards and recognition as the first Canadian journalist in China to report for CTV News Canada in the early days of COVID-19, accurately predicting developments that continued to puzzle world health experts for over a year. Kai has since published several nonfiction books: Kai’s Diary (an international bestseller and one of China’s top 10 books of 2020), The Invisible War, Year of the Rat (featuring his childhood hero Jean-Claude Van Damme and guest writers from around the world), and Aye of the Tiger, a meditation on existentialism and the absurd. His debut novel, the internationally bestselling solarpunk fantasy Amos the Amazing, became a bestseller in children’s steampunk fiction, and his latest work, The Sun Also Rises on Cthulhu, adds a literary-horror twist to his repertoire.
Kai’s writing is cinematic and immersive, rich with creativity, and speaks with the authority of a well-lived life. He enjoys writing on beaches around the world, gazing into the sea; when not stationary, he relishes being on wheels. His imaginative storytelling weaves vivid worlds, reflecting profound insights into the human condition.
