Yiyun Li

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Yiyun Li (李翊雲) (born 1972) is a Chinese American writer. Her debut short story collection A Thousand Years of Good Prayers won the 2005 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, and her second collection Gold Boy, Emerald Girl was shortlisted for the same award. Her debut novel The Vagrants was shortlisted for the 2011 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.

She was named a 2010 MacArthur Fellow. She is an editor of Brooklyn-based literary magazine, A Public Space.[1]

Life

Yiyun Li grew up in Beijing, China, and moved to the United States after earning a B.S. at Peking University in 1996. She earned an MS in immunology at the University of Iowa, an MFA in creative nonfiction from the Nonfiction Writing Program at the University of Iowa, and an MFA in fiction from the Iowa Writers' Workshop. Her stories and essays have been published in The New Yorker,[2] The Paris Review, 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.

She lives in Oakland, California, with her husband and their two sons, and teaches at University of California, Davis.[3]

Recognition

Works

Anthologies

  • Best American Short Stories
  • Laura Furman, ed. (2008). "Prison". O Henry Prize Stories. Random House, Inc. ISBN 978-0-307-28034-3. 

Reviews

Stephanie Merritt of The Observer wrote,
Yiyun Li's 2005 debut story collection A Thousand Years of Good Prayers earned her comparisons with Chekhov and Alice Munro. Her first novel, The Vagrants, draws heavily on the art of the short story as it follows a disparate group of citizens of the industrial town of Muddy River over three months in 1979.[7]
Ian Thomson of The Independent wrote,
With its controlled understatement and scrupulous and unsparing lucidity, The Vagrants is a work of great moral poise and dignity. These days, few writers can be said to possess gravitas; yet Yiyun Li exudes a seriousness that would be remarkable in one twice her age. As a chronicle of political betrayal under a modern dictatorship, The Vagrants is a minor classic; I have not read such a compelling work in years.[8]

References

  1. ↑ A Public Space.
  2. ↑ The New Yorker bio.
  3. ↑ Yiyli at UC Davis.
  4. ↑ Battersby, Eileen (16 June 2011). "'I decided to write the great Irish novel but couldn't. I wasn't messed-up enough'". The Irish Times. Retrieved 16 June 2011. 
  5. ↑ Walsh, Caroline. "Two Irish authors make awards shortlist". The Irish Times. 9 July 2011.
  6. ↑ Flood, Alison. "Strong showing for Irish writers on Frank O'Connor shortlist". The Guardian. 9 July 2011.
  7. ↑ Stephanie Merritt (15 February 2009). "Madness after Mao". The Observer. 
  8. ↑ Ian Thomson (13 February 2009). "The Vagrants, By Yiyun Li". The Independent. 

External links

Authority control
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