Photo: Librairie Mollat / CC BY 3.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Yiyun Li astonishes me for one reason above all: she writes exclusively in English, her second language, and does it at a level that's won the PEN/Hemingway and Guardian First Book Awards, the MacArthur 'genius' grant, and the PEN/Faulkner. Coming from a science background, leaving Beijing and Peking University for America, then mastering English well enough to map the human interior, that's an act of will I can barely fathom. Choosing to render the deepest emotions in a borrowed tongue suggests extraordinary discipline and quiet steel. I haven't read every book of hers, but the scale of that achievement leaves me genuinely in awe.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Yiyun Li
- Name (Japanese)
- イーユン・リー
- Reading
- いーゆん・りー
- Born
- November 4, 1972 (age 53)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Scorpio / Rat
- Origin
- Beijing, People's Republic of China
- Occupation
- writer / screenwriter / university teacher / journalist / novelist
2. Background
- University
- Peking University
Awards & achievements
- 2010 MacArthur Fellows Program
- 2006 Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award
- 2006 Guardian First Book Award
- 2012 O. Henry Award
- 2011 Asian American Literary Awards
- 2020 Guggenheim Fellowship
- 2022 Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- 2003 Plimpton Prize
4. Personality
Motto
Private
5. Works & records
| Category | Title | Role | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notable work | The Vagrants | — | |
| Notable work | A Thousand Years of Good Prayers | — | |
| Notable work | Kinder Than Solitude | — |
6. Links
- Official sitehttp://www.yiyunli.com/
- Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A4%E3%83%BC%E3%83%A6%E3%83%B3%E3%83%BB%E3%83%AA%E3%83%BC
Frequently asked questions
When was Yiyun Li born?
Born November 4, 1972 (age 53).
Where is Yiyun Li from?
Yiyun Li is from Beijing, People's Republic of China.
What does Yiyun Li do?
Yiyun Li works as writer, screenwriter, university teacher, journalist, novelist.
What is Yiyun Li known for?
Notable works include The Vagrants, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers, Kinder Than Solitude.
Writer — see all → · Screenwriter — see all → · More people from People's Republic of China →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.