Yiyun Li (born November 4, 1972) is a

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

-born writer and professor in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Her short stories and novels have won several awards, including the

PEN/Hemingway Award The PEN/Hemingway Award is awarded annually to a full-length novel or book of short stories by an American author who has not previously published a full-length book of fiction. The award is named after Ernest Hemingway and funded by the Hemingway ...

and

Guardian First Book Award The Guardian First Book Award was a literary award presented by ''The Guardian'' newspaper. It annually recognised one book by a new writer. It was established in 1999, replacing the Guardian Fiction Award or Guardian Fiction Prize that the newspap ...

for ''A Thousand Years of Good Prayers'', and the 2020

PEN/Jean Stein Book Award PEN/Jean Stein Book Award is awarded by the PEN America to honor a "a book-length work of any genre for its originality, merit, and impact". With an award of $75,000 it is one of the richest prizes given by the PEN American Center. It was first awar ...

for ''Where Reasons End''. She is an editor of the Brooklyn-based literary magazine ''

A Public Space ''A Public Space'' is a nonprofit triquarterly English-language literary magazine based in Brooklyn, New York. First published in April 2006, ''A Public Space'' publishes fiction, poetry, essays and art. The magazine's Focus portfolios have exam ...

''.

Biography

Yiyun was born and raised in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

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 ...

. Her mother was a teacher and her father worked as a nuclear physicist. Following a compulsory year of service in the

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five service branches: the Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, ...

, she went on to earn a B.S. at

Peking University Peking University (PKU; ) is a public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education. Peking University was established as the Imperial University of Peking in 1898 when it received its royal charter ...

in 1996. In the same year she moved to the US and in 2000 earned an MS in immunology at

The University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...

. In 2005 she earned an MFA degree in

creative nonfiction Creative nonfiction (also known as literary nonfiction or narrative nonfiction or literary journalism or verfabula) is a genre of writing that uses literary styles and techniques to create factually accurate narratives. Creative nonfiction contra ...

and fiction from The Nonfiction Writing Program and the

Writers' Workshop An authors' conference or writers' conference is a type of conference where writers gather to review their written works and suggest improvements. This process helps an author improve their work and learn to be a better writer for future works, bo ...

at the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...

. Her stories and essays have been published in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'', ''

The Paris Review ''The Paris Review'' is a quarterly English-language literary magazine established in Paris in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton. In its first five years, ''The Paris Review'' published works by Jack Kerouac, Philip ...

'', and ''Zoetrope: All-Story''. Two of the stories from ''

A Thousand Years of Good Prayers ''A Thousand Years of Good Prayers'' is a 2007 American drama film directed by Wayne Wang and starring Faye Yu, Henry O, Vida Ghahremani and Pasha D. Lychnikoff. It is adapted from the short story by Yiyun Li and shot on a high-end high-def ...

'' were adapted into 2007 films directed by

Wayne Wang Wayne Wang (; born January 12, 1949) is a Hong Kong Americans, Hong Kong–American Film director, director, Film producer, producer, and screenwriter. Considered a pioneer of Asian-American cinema, he was one of the first Chinese Americans, ...

: ''

The Princess of Nebraska ''The Princess of Nebraska'' is a 2007 film directed by Wayne Wang. It stars Li Ling and Brian Danforth. It was adapted from a story by Yiyun Li. Premise A pregnant San Francisco Chinese teenage immigrant named Sasha tells of life in America. C ...

'' and the title story, which Yiyun adapted herself. Li had a breakdown in 2012 and attempted suicide twice. After recuperating and leaving the hospital, she lost interest in writing fiction and for a whole year she focused on reading several biographies, memoirs, diaries and journals. According to her, reading about other people's lives "was a comfort". She has taught fiction at the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...

, and is a professor of creative writing at the Lewis Center for the Arts at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

Award and honours

Lannan Foundation The Lannan Literary Awards are a series of awards and literary fellowships given out in various fields by the Lannan Foundation. Established in 1989, the awards are meant "to honor both established and emerging writers whose work is of exceptional ...

residency in Marfa, Texas *2005 –

Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award __NOTOC__ The Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award—named in honour of Frank O'Connor, who devoted much of his work to the form—was an international literary award presented for the best short story collection. It was presented bet ...

for ''

'' *2006 –

for ''A Thousand Years of Good Prayers'' *2006 –

for ''A Thousand Years of Good Prayers'' *2006 – Whiting Award *

California Book Award The Commonwealth Club of California is a non-profit, non-partisan educational organization based in Northern California. Founded in 1903, it is the oldest and largest public affairs forum in the United States. Membership is open to everyone. Ac ...

first fiction award for ''A Thousand Years of Good Prayers'' *2007 –

Granta ''Granta'' is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centres on its "belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story’s supreme ability to describe, illuminate and ma ...

's 21 Best of Young American Novelists *

for ''The Vagrants'' *2010 – ''

''s 20 under 40 *2010 –

MacArthur Foundation The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is a private foundation that makes grants and impact investments to support non-profit organizations in approximately 50 countries around the world. It has an endowment of $7.0 billion and p ...

fellow *2010 –

Story Prize The Story Prize is an annual book award established in 2004 that honors the author of an outstanding collection of short fiction with a $20,000 cash award. Each of two runners-up receives $5,000. Eligible books must be written in English and first p ...

finalist for ''Gold Boy, Emerald Girl'' *2011 –

International Dublin Literary Award The International Dublin Literary Award ( ga, Duais Liteartha Idirnáisiúnta Bhaile Átha Chliath), established as the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 1996, is presented each year for a novel written or translated into English. ...

shortlist for ''The Vagrants'' *2011 –

shortlist for ''Gold Boy, Emerald Girl''. *2014 –

The American Academy of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqua ...

's Benjamin H. Danks Award *2015 –

Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award The Sunday Times Short Story Award is a British literary award for a single short story open to any novelist or short story writer from around the world who is published in the UK or Ireland. The winner receives £30,000, and the five shortliste ...

winner for "A Sheltered Woman". * 2020 –

for ''Where Reasons End'' *2020 – Windham-Campbell Literature Prize *2020 –

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

*2022 –

PEN/Malamud Award The PEN/Malamud Award and Memorial Reading honors "excellence in the art of the short story", and is awarded annually by the PEN/Faulkner Foundation. The selection committee is composed of PEN/Faulkner directors and representatives of Bernard Mal ...

Bibliography

Novels

* * * * *

Short fiction

;Collections * * ;Short stories

Memoir

Essays and reporting

* *

References

External links

Profile at The Whiting Foundation"The Rumpus Interview with Yiyun Li", January 14, 2009January 2009 interview with Yiyun Li"Executioner Songs", ''The Wall Street Journal'', JANUARY 30, 2009"Interviews: Yiyun Li", ''Identity Theory''Articles by Yuyun Li on her UK publisher's blog, 5th EstateYiyun Li speaks about ''Gold Boy, Emerald Girl'' on KRUI's ''The Lit Show''
*Video
The Story Prize reading
with

Anthony Doerr Anthony Doerr (born October 27, 1973) is an American author of novels and short stories. He gained widespread recognition for his 2014 novel ''All the Light We Cannot See'', which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Early life and education Rais ...

and Suzanne Rivecca. March 2, 2011. {{DEFAULTSORT:Li, Yiyun 1972 births Living people 21st-century Chinese novelists 21st-century Chinese short story writers 21st-century Chinese women writers Chinese emigrants to the United States Exophonic writers University of Iowa alumni Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni Peking University alumni MacArthur Fellows University of California, Davis faculty Princeton University faculty Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award winners The New Yorker people Writers from Beijing O. Henry Award winners