Jean Kwok

Jean Kwok is a New York Times and international bestselling Chinese American author known for novels such as Girl in Translation, Mambo in Chinatown, Searching for Sylvie Lee, and The Leftover Woman. She immigrated from Hong Kong to Brooklyn at age five, worked in a Chinatown clothing factory during her childhood, earned a bachelor's degree from Harvard University and an MFA from Columbia University, and worked as a professional ballroom dancer in between. Trilingual in English, Chinese, and Dutch, her work has been published in twenty countries, taught worldwide, and honored with awards including the American Library Association Alex Award.