, image = Fan Wu Author Photo.jpg , alt = , caption = Fan Wu (2009) , birth_date = , birth_place = Nanchang,

Jiangxi Province Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north into hi ...

, China , death_date = , death_place = , education = Sun Yat-sen University

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

, notable_works = , genre = , language = English, Chinese , subject =

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

;

Chinese immigrants Overseas Chinese () refers to people of Chinese birth or ethnicity who reside outside Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. As of 2011, there were over 40.3 million overseas Chinese. Terminology () or ''Hoan-kheh'' () in Hokkien, refe ...

in the United States; multicultural issues; women's issues , spouse = , children = Fan Wu ( zh, 吴帆; born 1974) is a bilingual Chinese-American

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

and

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

writer. She often translates her own work between English and Chinese. She has expressed her dilemma in choosing which language to use.

Early life and education

Fan Wu grew up on a state-run farm in Nanchang,

where her parents were exiled during the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...

. She mentioned in her writing that "Despite poverty and isolation, the farm provided me with boundless freedom and joy." She studied Chinese Language and Literature in Sun Yat-sen University in mid-90s, where she obtained a BA. Afterwards, she went to work in

Shenzhen Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern province ...

and

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

, holding varied jobs in government and private sectors for three years before traveling to the United States for graduate studies at

in late 90s. The three years of working in China has allowed her to "witness the unprecedented economic boom, as well as the exploitation of workers from poor provinces and the countryside." She received a

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

Mass Media Mass media refers to a diverse array of media technologies that reach a large audience via mass communication. The technologies through which this communication takes place include a variety of outlets. Broadcast media transmit information ...

Studies from

Career

Fan worked as a web editor and

market research Market research is an organized effort to gather information about target markets and customers: know about them, starting with who they are. It is an important component of business strategy and a major factor in maintaining competitiveness. Mark ...

analyst at

Yahoo! Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds managed by Apollo Global Man ...

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo County ...

for ten years. She began to write in 2002, while working full time. She currently resides in northern

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. Fan writes about

and

living in the US, with a particular focus on women's life, identity, and multicultural issues. Her writing is populated with characters who are travelers, both physically and psychologically. Her debut novel, ''February Flowers'' (

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...

), tells the story of college campus life in China. The book is her first attempt in writing creatively in English, and has been translated into eight languages. She has translated the book herself into Chinese for its publication in China. Her second novel, ''Beautiful as Yesterday'' (Simon & Schuster), centers around two sisters who were born and brought up in China but now reside in the United States. It's praised by Amy Tan as a story "with intelligence, insight, and heart." She also writes short stories and her writing has appeared in '' Granta, The Missouri Review,

Asia Literary Review The Asia Literary Review was a quarterly literary journal published in English and distributed internationally. It included articles of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and the photography genre. The journal first published in Hong Kong in 2000 as ...

Ploughshares ''Ploughshares'' is an American literary journal established in 1971 by DeWitt Henry and Peter O'Malley in The Plough and Stars, an Irish pub in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Since 1989, ''Ploughshares'' has been based at Emerson College in Boston. ...

'' and other leading publications. Her short story has been anthologized, translated and nominated for

Pushcart Prize The Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize published by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in the small presses over the previous year. Magazine and small book press editors are ...

. She is currently working on her fourth novel and a short story collection. Besides writing fiction, she has reviewed books for ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...

''. Her latest novel, ''The Souls Left Behind'', a wartime story set in China and France, is forthcoming in both Chinese and English.

Other

Fan is a trustee and a long-time volunteer at the British charity The Mothers’ Bridge of Love’ (MBL), which helps adoptive families in the west to understand China, and also builds libraries for rural children in China. In 2016, she co-organized the Southern China International Literary Festival in

, China, along with her other work in promoting Chinese literary voices in the west. In 2020, she co-founded Society of Heart's Delight (, Yuyuanshe), a California-based nonprofit to foster understanding and communication between Chinese immigrants and cultural and ethnic groups. She's the creator of the bilingual photoblog of "Chinese immigrants in Silicon Valley and Beyond - My Story, My Community, My Home." This photoblog showcases the variety of the Chinese community as a cultural and ethnic group and advocates for cultural sensitivity, understanding, and inclusion.

Books

* has been translated into eight languages and sold in more than fifteen countries *

References

External links

Author Website

Fan Wu On Adventures in Writing and Being Published in the West

February Flowers
review
Fan Wu
interview
Short Story "The Guest" - Hyphen Magazine

Short Story "Tickets to Disneyland" - The Margins

Short Story "Year of the Monkey" - Granta

Blog at Ploughshares Magazine

Chinese Immigrants in Silicon Valley and Beyond - San Jose Awesome Foundation

Publisher Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wu, Fan Chinese women novelists Chinese women short story writers Living people Stanford University alumni American writers of Chinese descent 1974 births