2008 Woodie Awards
Author Yiyun Li writes of two worlds
Chinese-American fiction writer moved to U.S. in 1996
Stefanie Ordoveza
Issue date: 9/11/07 Section: News
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After initially pursuing a career in science, Yiyun Li started writing fiction in her second language, English.
Last Wednesday, the Creative Writing Reading Series took place, featuring Yiyun Li, author of A Thousand Years of Good Prayers and winner of the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, the Hemingway Found/Pen Award, and the California Book Award for first fiction, as the first keynote speaker of the year.
The event only lasted an hour, but that was just enough time to allow all the attendees, ranging from Saint Mary's professors to students to members of the outside community, to enter the world of the author Yiyun Li.
Li, born and raised in Beijing, came to the United States in 1996. She first studied science and pursued that field of study for a few years. It wasn't until she attended the University of Iowa that she began to develop her writing skills and become deeply engaged in creating short stories.
One of these short stories was shared Wednesday night in a short reading by Li herself. The story, titled Sweeping Past, was one of her newest stories, so new that those present were the first to ever hear it. It was a story of friendship, family, culture, and time-all recurring elements in Li's works that have gained her such recognition over the past few years.
The rest of the evening was devoted to a short "Q&A" period.
When asked about the time Li spent as a scientist before becoming an author and whether or not she regretted not getting into writing earlier, Li said, "I learned from being a scientist, especially relating to mathematics. There is mathematics in every story-multi-triangles with char-acters…and mirrors, for example. It's something I consciously think about when I write."
Li also said, "And no, I don't regret spending some years as a scientist. I believe there was a reason for it. The good thing about writing is you can get there when you're 60 and still have 20 years left to do it."
Last Wednesday, the Creative Writing Reading Series took place, featuring Yiyun Li, author of A Thousand Years of Good Prayers and winner of the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, the Hemingway Found/Pen Award, and the California Book Award for first fiction, as the first keynote speaker of the year.
The event only lasted an hour, but that was just enough time to allow all the attendees, ranging from Saint Mary's professors to students to members of the outside community, to enter the world of the author Yiyun Li.
Li, born and raised in Beijing, came to the United States in 1996. She first studied science and pursued that field of study for a few years. It wasn't until she attended the University of Iowa that she began to develop her writing skills and become deeply engaged in creating short stories.
One of these short stories was shared Wednesday night in a short reading by Li herself. The story, titled Sweeping Past, was one of her newest stories, so new that those present were the first to ever hear it. It was a story of friendship, family, culture, and time-all recurring elements in Li's works that have gained her such recognition over the past few years.
The rest of the evening was devoted to a short "Q&A" period.
When asked about the time Li spent as a scientist before becoming an author and whether or not she regretted not getting into writing earlier, Li said, "I learned from being a scientist, especially relating to mathematics. There is mathematics in every story-multi-triangles with char-acters…and mirrors, for example. It's something I consciously think about when I write."
Li also said, "And no, I don't regret spending some years as a scientist. I believe there was a reason for it. The good thing about writing is you can get there when you're 60 and still have 20 years left to do it."