China and the West

Yiyun Li
Associate Professor of English, UC Davis,
Award-Winning Author

Yiyun Li was born in China and came to the United States in 1996. She is an award-winning fiction writer, and is a 2010 recipient of the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship. Li has published three books, all in English. The most recent is “Golden Boy, Emerald Girl,” a collection of short stories.  Li presents her audience with insights into what inspires her writing.  She has an intense interest in real-life people and their stories; these stories often form the basis for her writing. She notes, “A writer’s job is to eavesdrop on conversations; but it is also to eavesdrop on people’s hearts.” 

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Recorded: March 12, 2012