Yiyun Li's stories and essays have been published in The New Yorker, Best American Short Stories, O Henry Prize Stories, and elsewhere. She has received fellowships and awards from Lannan Foundation and Whiting Foundation. Her story collection, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers, won the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, PEN/Hemingway Award, Guardian First Book Award, and California Book Award for first fiction. The Vagrants, her debut novel, was published in February, 2009. She was selected by Granta as one of the 21 Best Young American Novelists under 35. She lives in Oakland, CA with her husband and two sons, and teaches at UC Davis.