Susan Choi (born 1969) is an American

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire ...

Early life and education

Choi was born in

South Bend, Indiana South Bend is a city in and the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, on the St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total of 103,453 residents and is the fourt ...

to a

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

father and a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

mother. She attended public schools. When she was nine years old, her parents divorced. She and her mother moved to

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

. Choi earned a B.A. in Literature from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...

(1990) and an M.F.A. from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

Career

After receiving her graduate degree, she worked for ''

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 ...

'' as a

fact checker Fact-checking is the process of verifying factual information, in order to promote the veracity and correctness of reporting. Fact-checking can be conducted before (''ante hoc'') or after (''post hoc'') the text is published or otherwise dissem ...

. At this job she met her husband,

Pete Wells Pete Wells is the restaurant critic for ''The New York Times''. He has held the position since November 2011, succeeding Sam Sifton. Wells was adopted as an infant and grew up in Rhode Island. He lives in Brooklyn and is married to the novelis ...

, now the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' restaurant critic. They reside in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. Choi published her first novel, ''

The Foreign Student ''The Foreign Student'' is the first novel by Asian-American author Susan Choi, published in 1998. Plot In 1955, 25-year-old Chang (“Chuck”) Ahn arrives at The University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee from Korea after the Korean War en ...

'' (1998). It won the

Asian American Literary Award The Asian American Literary Awards are a set of annual awards that have been presented by The Asian American Writers' Workshop since 1998. The awards include a set of honors for excellence in fiction, poetry and nonfiction, chosen by a panel of ...

for Fiction and was a finalist of the Discover Great New Writers Award at

Barnes & Noble Barnes & Noble Booksellers is an American bookseller. It is a Fortune 1000 company and the bookseller with the largest number of retail outlets in the United States. As of July 7, 2020, the company operates 614 retail stores across all 50 ...

. Her second novel, ''

American Woman "American Woman" is a song by Canadian rock band the Guess Who, released January 1970, from the album of the same name. It was later released in March 1970 as a single backed with " No Sugar Tonight", and it reached number one for three weeks ...

'' (2003), was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in literature. In 2010, she won the

PEN A pen is a common writing instrument that applies ink to a surface, usually paper, for writing or drawing. Early pens such as reed pens, quill pens, dip pens and ruling pens held a small amount of ink on a nib or in a small void or cavity wh ...

W.G. Sebald Winfried Georg Sebald (18 May 1944 – 14 December 2001), known as W. G. Sebald or (as he preferred) Max Sebald, was a German writer and academic. At the time of his death at the age of 57, he was being cited by literary critics as one of the g ...

Award for '' A Person of Interest'', which was also a finalist for the

PEN/Faulkner Award The PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction is awarded annually by the PEN/Faulkner Foundation to the authors of the year's best works of fiction by living American citizens. The winner receives US$15,000 and each of four runners-up receives US$5000. Fi ...

in 2009. In 2014, her fourth novel, '' My Education'', won the

Lambda Literary Award Lambda Literary Awards, also known as the "Lammys", are awarded yearly by Lambda Literary to recognize the crucial role LGBTQ writers play in shaping the world. The Lammys celebrate the very best in LGBTQ literature.The awards were instituted i ...

for Bisexual Fiction. With

David Remnick David J. Remnick (born October 29, 1958) is an American journalist, writer and editor. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1994 for his book '' Lenin's Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire'', and is also the author of ''Resurrection'' and ''King of th ...

, Choi edited an anthology of short fiction entitled ''Wonderful Town: New York Stories from The New Yorker''. Her latest novel is '' Trust Exercise'' (2019), which won the National Book Award. As of May 2018, Choi is working on a novel employing conventions of memoir and reportage that "takes up the question of national identity, and the extent to which it coincides or does not coincide with ethnic and with cultural identity." She teaches

creative writing Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary ...

Awards and grants

for Fiction for ''

'' * Steven Turner Award for ''

'' * National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship recipient (2001) *

Guggenheim Fellow 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 ...

(2004). * PEN/W.G. Sebald Award (2010) for '' A Person of Interest'' *

for Bisexual Fiction for '' My Education'' (2014)"Looking for summer reading? Lambda Literary Awards rain down a host of choices"
''

Times-Picayune ''The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate'' is an American newspaper published in New Orleans, Louisiana, since January 25, 1837. The current publication is the result of the 2019 acquisition of ''The Times-Picayune'' (itself a result of th ...

'', June 3, 2014. *National Book Award for Fiction for '' Trust Exercise'' (2019) *

Sunday Times 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 shortlist ...

(2021) for ''Flashlight''

Bibliography

Novels

*''

'' (1998), *''

'' (2003), *'' A Person of Interest'' (2008), * '' My Education'' (2013), *'' Trust Exercise'' (novel) (2019),

Children's books

*''Camp Tiger'' (picture book, illustrated by John Rocco) (2019),

Short fiction

;Anthologies (edited) *''Wonderful Town: New York Stories from The New Yorker'' (2000), (ed. with David Remnick) ;StoriesShort stories unless otherwise noted.

References

External links

*
Excerpt from Susan Choi's fiction in ''Guernica'' (guernicamag.com)New York Public Library Young Lions Award finalist 2004
{{DEFAULTSORT:Choi, Susan 1969 births Living people 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American women writers American novelists of Asian descent American women novelists American writers of Korean descent Cornell University alumni High School for the Performing and Visual Arts alumni Jewish American writers Lambda Literary Award winners National Book Award winners The New Yorker people Novelists from Indiana PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction winners Writers from Houston Writers from South Bend, Indiana Yale College alumni