Mark Salzman

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Mark Salzman

Mark Salzman (born December 3, 1959 in Greenwich, Connecticut) is an American writer. Salzman is best known for his 1986 memoir Iron & Silk, which describes his experiences living in China as an English teacher in the early 1980s.

Salzman studied Chinese Language and Literature at Yale University. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa, Summa Cum Laude in 1982 and spent the next two years in Changsha, Hunan teaching English at Hunan Medical College (湖南中医学院) and studying martial arts with Pan Qingfu, a Chinese martial arts teacher and kung fu movie actor. His experiences in China are recounted in his first book, Iron & Silk: A young American encounters swordsmen, bureaucrats and other citizens of contemporary China, published in 1986. Salzman received several literary awards for Iron & Silk. The book was made into a 1990 film of the same title. Salzman wrote the screenplay and starred as himself in the film. Though the real venue of the story was in Changsha, the film was shot in Hangzhou, Zhejiang.

Salzman's other publications include several works of fiction, a memoir dealing with growing up in suburbia, more specifically Ridgefield, Connecticut, and a report on his work as a creative writing instructor for juvenile delinquents.

Salzman plays the cello and this musical instrument takes prominence in The Soloist and also appears in Iron & Silk. In high school, he played the cello for the Norwalk Youth Symphony.

Salzman was awarded a Guggenheim fellowship in 2000. He, his wife Jessica Yu, an Academy Award-winning filmmaker, and their daughter Ava live in Los Angeles.