May-lee Chai is the author of eleven books, including the forthcoming (August 2022) collection of short stories, Tomorrow in Shanghai and Other Stories; three novels, My Lucky Face, Dragon Chica, and Tiger Girl; the novella, Training Days; two works of memoir, The Girl from Purple Mountain (co-authored with her father, Winberg Chai) and Hapa Girl, A Memoir; the American Book Award–winning short story collection Useful Phrases for Immigrants; Glamorous Asians, a collection of short stories and essays; a nonfiction book about the culture and history of China, China A to Z (also co-authored with Winberg Chai); and her translation into English of the Chinese author Ba Jin’s 1934 Autobiography (Ba Jin Zi Zhuan). Her own books have been translated into German, Hebrew, and Chinese.
May-lee Chai is a writer and educator. May-lee is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship; 2014 APALA (Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association) Literature Award, Young Adult category for Tiger Girl; Kiriyama Prize 2008 Notable Book for Hapa Girl: A Memoir; Honorable Mention for the 2007 Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights Award for Hapa Girl: A Memoir; and a nomination for the National Book Award in nonfiction for The Girl from Purple Mountain. Her essay “The Blue Boot” was named a Notable Essay of 2012 in Best American Essays 2013, edited by Cheryl Strayed.
In addition to her books, she has published numerous short stories in journals, magazines and anthologies as well as essays and journalism. Her work has appeared in various publications, including Entropy, The Rumpus, the Los Angeles Times, Paris Review Online, Kenyon Review Online, New England Review, Gulf Coast, North American Review, ZYZZYVA, Missouri Review, Seventeen, Many Mountains Moving, Christian Science Monitor, Dallas Morning News, Denver Post, Jakarta Post Weekender, and numerous anthologies, including Best Small Fictions.
May-lee was born in California but has lived in fourteen states in the U.S. and four countries. She received her B.A. from Grinnell College, where she majored in French and Chinese Studies. She received her first M.A. from Yale University in East Asian Studies and a second M.A. in English-Creative Writing from the University of Colorado-Boulder. She received her M.F.A. from San Francisco State University.
