Nicole Mones (born 1952) 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 wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

and food writer.

Biography

As of March 2014 she has published four novels, including '' Lost in Translation'', which appeared in 1998, '' A Cup of Light'' (2002), and '' The Last Chinese Chef'', (2007), and in March 2014,
Night in Shanghai
''Lost in Translation'' won the 2000

Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize The Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize is a literary award presented annually for the "best book-length work of prose fiction" by an American woman. The award has been given by the Susan B. Anthony Institute for Gender and Women's Studies and the Depar ...

awarded by the Susan B. Anthony Institute for Gender and Women's Studies and the Department of English at the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York, United States. It was founded in 1850 and moved into its current campus, next to the Genesee River in 1930. With approximately 30,000 full ...

for best work of fiction by an American woman, and also the Pacific Northwest Annual Book Award, a five-state prize. "The Last Chinese Chef" was the only American finalist for the international Kiriyama Prize and also a World Gourmand Award winner in the Chinese cookbook category, although it is a novel with no recipes. Mones' novels have been translated into at least 17 languages. She also contributes articles about

Chinese cuisine Chinese cuisine comprises cuisines originating from Greater China, China, as well as from Overseas Chinese, Chinese people from other parts of the world. Because of the Chinese diaspora and the historical power of the country, Chinese cuisine ...

to ''

Gourmet Gourmet (, ) is a cultural idea associated with the culinary arts of fine food and drink, or haute cuisine, which is characterized by their high level of refined and elaborate food preparation techniques and displays of balanced meals that have ...

'' magazine, and has written for The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, and The Los Angeles Times.

Biography

Mones did business in China for 18 years from 1977, running a textile concern, and all four of her published novels are set mainly in China. In all of them, a love story is entwined around a detailed and accurate description of a facet of Chinese culture: in ''Lost in Translation'', the heroine becomes involved in an

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

expedition to find the remains of

Peking Man Peking Man (''Homo erectus pekinensis'', originally "''Sinanthropus pekinensis''") is a subspecies of '' H. erectus'' which inhabited what is now northern China during the Middle Pleistocene. Its fossils have been found in a cave some southw ...

; the action of ''A Cup of Light'' turns around a rare collection of

Chinese porcelain Chinese ceramics are one of the most significant forms of Chinese art and ceramics globally. They range from construction materials such as bricks and tiles, to hand-built pottery vessels fired in bonfires or kilns, to the sophisticated Chinese ...

; ''The Last Chinese Chef'', as its name suggests, features Chinese cuisine; and ''Night in Shanghai'' is the story of African-American musicians in Shanghai during the jazz age and what happened when World War II exploded around them. Mones currently lives in

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

Novels

* ''Lost in Translation'' − 1998 * ''A Cup of Light'' – 2002 * ''The Last Chinese Chef'' – 2007 * ''Night in Shanghai'' – 2014

Non-fiction

"Why Can't They See Things Like We Do?"
– ''Los Angeles Times'' – May 16, 1999
"Kitchen Warriors"
– ''Gourmet Magazine'' – October 2003
"The Road to Shangri-La"
– ''Gourmet Magazine'' – June 2007

– ''The Washington Post'' – July 27, 2008

– ''New York Times Magazine'' – August 5, 2007

Interviews

* NPR �
''Weekend Edition''
– May 6, 2007 * NPR �
''Weekend Edition''
– March 8, 2014 * Clear Channel �
''The Arik Korman Show''
– April 16, 2014

References

Citations

Bibliography

* Book covers * Publishers' and booksellers' sites * Nicole Mones' web site * Various Book Prize websites * Review Sites

External links

Nicole Mones' home page
* https://web.archive.org/web/20140323020838/http://www.pnba.org/awards/1999BookAwards.pdf {{DEFAULTSORT:Mones, Nicole 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American women novelists 1952 births Living people Writers from Portland, Oregon 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers Novelists from Oregon American women non-fiction writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers