Monique Truong

Monique Truong was born in Saigon in 1968 and moved to the United States at the age of six. She studied at Yale University and Columbia University School of Law, then worked at a New York law firm specializing in copyright law. Her debut novel, The Book of Salt, was published in 2004 and translated into numerous languages; it received, among other honors, the Bard College Fiction Award and the Young Lions Award. Her subsequent novels include Bitter in the Mouth (2010) and Sweetest Fruits (2020). Truong also edited a collection of reportage by Lafcadio Hearn and has received numerous literary awards and fellowships.