Yiyun Li

Li was born and raised in Beijing, China.{{Cite magazine |last=Altmann |first=Jennifer |title=Creative Writing: Life, By the Book |url=https://paw.princeton.edu/article/creative-writing-life-book |magazine=Princeton Alumni Weekly |edition=June 6, 2018 |access-date=31 July 2020}}{{Cite web |last=Thompson |first=Bob |date=28 December 2005 |title=Proving the extraordinary |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-dec-28-et-li28-story.html |access-date=31 July 2020 |website=Los Angeles Times}} Her mother was a teacher and her father worked as a nuclear physicist.{{cite news | last = Laity | first = Paul | date = 24 February 2017 | title = Yiyun Li: 'I used to say that I was not an autobiographical writer – that was a lie' | url = https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/feb/24/yiyun-li-interview-dear-friend-from-my-life-i-write-to-you-in-your-life | newspaper = The Guardian | access-date = 24 February 2017 }} In Dear Friend, from My Life I Write to You in Your Life, Li recounts moments from her early life, including the abuse by her mother.{{Cite news |last=Armitstead |first=Claire |last2= |date=2022-09-18 |title=Yiyun Li: 'I'm not that nice friendly Chinese lady who writes… Being subversive is important to me' |language=en-GB |work=The Observer |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/sep/18/yiyun-li-the-book-of-goose-interview-being-subversive-important |access-date=2023-04-06 |issn=0029-7712}}

In 1991, Li fulfilled a compulsory year of service in the People's Liberation Army in Xinyang as part of her obligations before pursuing her college education.{{Cite web |last=admin |date=2022-06-08 |title=Yiyun Li Named Director of Princeton University's Program in Creative Writing |url=https://arts.princeton.edu/news/2022/06/yiyun-li-named-director-of-princeton-universitys-program-in-creative-writing/ |access-date=2024-10-26 |website=Lewis Center for the Arts |language=en-US}} After earning a Bachelor of Science at Peking University in 1996, she moved to the U.S. In 2000, she earned a Master of Science in immunology at the University of Iowa.{{Cite web |last=Strong |first=Lynn Steger |date=2022-09-20 |title=How novelist Yiyun Li learned to capture shadows |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2022-09-20/how-novelist-yiyun-li-learned-to-capture-shadows |access-date=2023-04-06 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}} She left a PhD program in immunology to pursue writing.{{Cite news |last=Alter |first=Alexandra |date=2025-05-16 |title=Yiyun Li’s New Book Is No Ordinary Grief Memoir |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/16/books/yiyun-li-grief-things-in-nature-merely-grow.html |access-date=2025-05-16 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} In 2005, she earned a Master of Fine Arts in creative nonfiction and fiction from The Nonfiction Writing Program and the Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa.

Li's stories and essays have been published in The New Yorker,{{cite magazine | title = Yiyun Li | url = http://www.newyorker.com/contributors/yiyun-li | magazine = The New Yorker | access-date = 26 February 2017 }} The Paris Review, Harper's, and Zoetrope: All-Story. Two of the stories from A Thousand Years of Good Prayers were adapted into 2007 films directed by Wayne Wang: The Princess of Nebraska and the title story, which Li adapted herself.

From 2005 to 2008, Li lived in Oakland, California, with her husband and their two sons. During that time, she taught at Mills College.{{Cite web |title=Yiyun Li – The Oakland Artists Project |url=https://artsinoakland.org/articles/yiyun-li/ |access-date=2024-01-15}} In 2008, she moved from Oakland to join the faculty at the Department of English at the University of California, Davis. Since 2017, she has taught creative writing at Princeton University.

Li had a breakdown in 2012 and attempted suicide twice. After recuperating and leaving the hospital, she lost interest in writing fiction. 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".{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/feb/24/yiyun-li-interview-dear-friend-from-my-life-i-write-to-you-in-your-life|title=Yiyun Li: 'I used to say that I was not an autobiographical writer – that was a lie'|last=Laity|first=Paul|date=2017-02-24|work=The Guardian|access-date=2017-07-12|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}

As a result of her experiences with depression, she wrote her 2017 memoir Dear Friend. A few months after the book was published, her 16-year-old son, Vincent, killed himself. She explored this in her 2019 novel Where Reasons End.{{Cite web |date=2019-10-18 |title=Yiyun Li navigates the loss of a child in her heartbreaking new novel |url=https://www.cbc.ca/radio/writersandcompany/yiyun-li-navigates-the-loss-of-a-child-in-her-heartbreaking-new-novel-1.5326406 |access-date=2023-04-06 |website=CBC Radio}}{{Cite news |last=Sehgal |first=Parul |date=2019-01-22 |title=A Mother Loses a Son to Suicide, but Their Dialogue Continues |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/22/books/review-where-reasons-end-yiyun-li.html |access-date=2023-04-06 |issn=0362-4331}}

In September 2022, Li published The Book of Goose, a tale of a literary hoax spun by two 13-year-old girls in postwar France. The New York Times called it "an existential fable that illuminates the tangle of motives behind our writing of stories."{{cite news |last1=O'Grady |first1=Megan |title=Why Write? Yiyun Li's New Novel Explores Our Urge to Invent. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/18/books/review/yiyun-li-book-of-goose.html |work=The New York Times |date=18 September 2022 |access-date=January 15, 2024}} In April 2023, the novel won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.{{cite web |title=Announcing the Winner of the 2023 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction |url=https://www.penfaulkner.org/2023/04/04/announcing-the-winner-of-the-2023-pen-faulkner-award-for-fiction/ |website=PEN/Faulkner |access-date=January 15, 2024}}

Li has taught fiction at the University of California, Davis, and is a professor of creative writing at the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University.{{Cite web|url=http://arts.princeton.edu/people/profiles/yiyunl/|title=Yiyun Li|website=Lewis Center for the Arts|language=en-US|access-date=2018-05-12}}

Li was appointed the Director of the Creative Writing Program at Princeton University in 2022, succeeding Jhumpa Lahiri.{{Cite web |last=admin |date=2022-06-08 |title=Yiyun Li Named Director of Princeton University's Program in Creative Writing |url=https://arts.princeton.edu/news/2022/06/yiyun-li-named-director-of-princeton-universitys-program-in-creative-writing/ |access-date=2024-10-26 |website=Lewis Center for the Arts |language=en-US}}

On February 16, 2024, Li's 19-year-old son, James, was fatally hit by a train in Princeton.{{Cite web |last=The Office of Communications of Princeton University |date=20 Feb 2024 |title=The University community mourns the loss of undergraduate James Li |url=https://www.princeton.edu/news/2024/02/20/university-community-mourns-loss-undergraduate-james-li |access-date=2024-02-21 |website=Princeton University |language=en}} The Middlesex County Medical Examiner's Office ruled his death a suicide.{{Cite web|url=https://paw.princeton.edu/article/princeton-student-struck-train-was-creative-writing-son-Yiyun-Li|title=Princeton Student Struck by Train Was Creative Writing Director's Son|website=Princeton Alumni Weekly|language=en-US|access-date=2024-05-22}} In 2025, she published Things in Nature Merely Grow, a memoir about the deaths of both Vincent and James and an exploration of the ways in which words fail but are still necessary.

Li has received several notable fellowships, including the Lannan Foundation residency in Marfa, Texas; a MacArthur Foundation fellowship;{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2010-09-28 |title=Awards: MacArthur Fellows; Independent Booksellers Book Prize |url=https://www.shelf-awareness.com/issue.html?issue=1291 |access-date=2023-04-06 |website=Shelf Awareness}}{{cite web |title=Yiyun Li - Professor of English |url=http://english.ucdavis.edu/people/yiyli |access-date=25 February 2017 |publisher=University of California, Davis}} and a Guggenheim Fellowship.{{Cite web |title=Yiyun Li |url=https://www.gf.org/fellows/all-fellows/yiyun-li/ |access-date=2023-04-06 |website=John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation |language=en-US}}

In 2007, Granta included Li on its list of the 21 best young American novelists.{{Cite news |last=Lea |first=Richard |date=2007-03-05 |title=Granta nominates best young US novelists |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/mar/05/news.richardlea |access-date=2023-04-06 |issn=0261-3077}} In 2010, she was listed among The New Yorker{{'}}s "20 Under 40".

In 2012, Li was selected as a judge for The Story Prize after having been a finalist for the award in 2010,{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2012-10-17 |title=Story Prize Judges Named |url=https://www.shelf-awareness.com/issue.html?issue=1850 |access-date=2023-04-06 |website=Shelf Awareness}} and in 2013, she judged the Man Booker International Prize.{{Cite web |date=2013-01-24 |title=2013 Man Booker International Prize Finalists Announced |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/awards-and-prizes/article/55619-2013-man-booker-international-prize-finalists-announced.html |access-date=2023-04-06 |website=Publishers Weekly |language=en}}

In 2014, Li won The American Academy of Arts and Letters's Benjamin H. Danks Award. In 2020, she won the Windham-Campbell Literature Prize for Fiction,{{cite web |title=Citation for Yiyun Li |url=https://windhamcampbell.org/festival/2020/recipients/li-yiyun |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221201075331/https://windhamcampbell.org/festival/2020/recipients/li-yiyun |archive-date=2022-12-01 |access-date=2023-01-06 |publisher=Windham–Campbell Literature Prizes}}{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2020-03-24 |title=Awards: Rathbones Folio, Windham Campbell Winners |url=https://www.shelf-awareness.com/issue.html?issue=3702 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221027160943/https://www.shelf-awareness.com/issue.html?issue=3702 |archive-date=2022-10-27 |access-date=2023-03-14 |website=Shelf Awareness}}{{Cite web |last=Nawotka |first=Ed |date=2020-03-19 |title=Eight Writers Awarded $165,000 Windham-Campbell Prizes |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/awards-and-prizes/article/82758-eight-writers-awarded-windham-campbell-prizes.html |access-date=2023-04-06 |website=Publishers Weekly |language=en}} and in 2022, she won the PEN/Malamud Award, which "recognizes writers who have demonstrated exceptional achievement in the short story form."{{Cite web |date=2022-05-16 |title=Yiyun Li Wins the 2022 PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short Story |url=https://www.penfaulkner.org/2022/05/16/yiyun-li-wins-the-2022-pen-malamud-award-for-excellence-in-the-short-story/ |access-date=2023-04-06 |website=PEN/Faulkner}}{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2022-05-17 |title=Awards: PEN/Malamud, Helen & Kurt Wolff Translator Winners |url=https://www.shelf-awareness.com/issue.html?issue=4234 |access-date=2023-04-06 |website=Shelf Awareness}}

In 2023, Li was elected as a Royal Society of Literature International Writer.{{cite web|url=https://rsliterature.org/rsl-international-writers/|title=RSL International Writers {{!}} 2023 International Writers|date=3 September 2023 |publisher=Royal Society of Literature|access-date=3 December 2023}}

In 2024, Li was named a finalist for The Story Prize.{{cite web|url=https://lithub.com/here-are-this-years-finalists-for-the-story-prize-4//|title=Here are this year's finalists for The Story Prize.|date=9 January 2024 |website=LitHub|access-date=9 January 2024}}

Li was chosen to serve as a judge for the 2024 Booker Prize, alongside Edmund de Waal (chair), Sara Collins, Justine Jordan, and Nitin Sawhney.{{Cite web |date=16 July 2024 |title=Meet the Booker Prize 2024 judges: 'The Booker is the Olympic gold medal of book awards' {{!}} The Booker Prizes |url=https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/features/meet-the-booker-prize-2024-judges |access-date=30 July 2024 |website=thebookerprizes.com |language=en}}

{{Incomplete list|date=March 2015}}

• {{cite book|author=Li, Yiyun|author-mask=1|year=2009|title=The Vagrants|title-link=The Vagrants (novel)|location=New York|publisher=Random House|isbn=978-1-4000-6313-0|lccn=2008023467|oclc=229028064}}
• {{cite book|author=Li, Yiyun|author-mask=1|year=2014|title=Kinder Than Solitude|location=New York|publisher=Random House|isbn=978-1-4000-6814-2|lccn=2013017307|oclc=842323189}}
• {{cite book|author=Li, Yiyun|author-mask=1|year=2019|title=Where Reasons End|location=New York|publisher=Random House|isbn=978-1-984817-37-2|lccn=2018013429|oclc=1030447783}}
• {{cite book|author=Li, Yiyun|author-mask=1|year=2020|title=Must I Go|location=New York|publisher=Random House|isbn=978-0-399-58912-6|lccn=2019048747|oclc=1125306132}}
• {{cite book|author=Li, Yiyun|author-mask=1|year=2022|title=The Book of Goose|location=New York|publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux|isbn=978-0-374-60634-3|lccn=2022022703|oclc=1289234580}}

• {{cite book |author=Li, Yiyun |title=Dear Friend, from My Life I Write to You in Your Life |location= |publisher=Random House |year=2017}}
• {{cite book |author=Li, Yiyun |author-mask=1 |year=2025 |title=Things in Nature Merely Grow |location=New York |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |isbn=978-0-374-61731-8}}

• {{cite book |author=Li, Yiyun |title=A Thousand Years of Good Prayers |location= |publisher=Random House |year=2005}}
• {{cite book |author=Li, Yiyun |author-mask=1 |title=Gold Boy, Emerald Girl |location= |publisher=Random House |year=2010}}
• {{cite book |author=Li |author-mask=1 |title=Wednesday's Child |location= |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |year=2023|first=Yiyun}}

• {{cite magazine |author=Li, Yiyun |date=December 22–29, 2014 |title=Listening is believing |department=Inner Worlds |magazine=The New Yorker |volume=90 |issue=41 |pages=88 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/12/22/listening-believing}}
• {{cite magazine |author=Li, Yiyun |author-mask=1 |date=January 2, 2017 |title=To speak is to blunder : choosing to renounce a mother tongue |department=Personal History |magazine=The New Yorker |volume=92 |issue=43 |pages=30–33 |url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/01/02/to-speak-is-to-blunder }}
• Li, Yiyun (October 31, 2024). "The Seventy Percent". Harper's Magazine{{Cite magazine |last=Li |first=Yiyun |date=October 2024 |title=The Seventy Percent |url=https://harpers.org/archive/2024/11/the-seventy-percent-yiyun-li/ |magazine=Harper's Magazine}}
• {{cite magazine |author=Li, Yiyun |author-mask=1 |date=March 31, 2025 |title=The Deaths—and Lives—of Two Sons |department=Personal History |magazine=The New Yorker |volume=101 |issue=6 |pages=38-47 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/03/31/the-deaths-and-lives-of-two-sons}}

{{reflist|30em}}

{{wikiquote}}

• [http://www.whiting.org/awards/winners/yiyun-li#/ Profile at The Whiting Foundation]
• [http://therumpus.net/2009/01/interview-with-yiyun-li/ "The Rumpus Interview with Yiyun Li", January 14, 2009]
• [http://sf.metblogs.com/2009/01/23/yiyun-lis-powerful-new-novel-the-vagrants/ January 2009 interview with Yiyun Li]
• [https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB123327828269931597 "Executioner Songs", The Wall Street Journal, JANUARY 30, 2009]
• [http://www.identitytheory.com/interviews/yiyun_li.php "Interviews: Yiyun Li", Identity Theory]
• [http://www.fifthestate.co.uk/author/YiyunLi/ Articles by Yuyun Li on her UK publisher's blog, 5th Estate]
• [http://litshow.com/yiyunli Yiyun Li speaks about Gold Boy, Emerald Girl on KRUI's The Lit Show]
• Video: {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20110805045506/http://fora.tv/2011/03/02/The_Story_Prize_Awards_Ceremony_2011 The Story Prize reading]}} with Anthony Doerr and Suzanne Rivecca. March 2, 2011.

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Li, Yiyun}}

Category:1972 births

Category:Living people

Category:21st-century Chinese novelists

Category:21st-century Chinese short story writers

Category:21st-century Chinese women writers

Category:Chinese emigrants to the United States

Category:Exophonic writers

Category:University of Iowa alumni

Category:Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni

Category:Peking University alumni

Category:MacArthur Fellows

Category:University of California, Davis faculty

Category:Princeton University faculty

Category:Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award winners

Category:The New Yorker people

Category:Writers from Beijing

Category:O. Henry Award winners