Li is author of A Thousand Years of Good Prayers and The Vagrants. A Beijing native and graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, she has received numerous awards. In 2007, Granta named her one of the best young American novelists under 35, and in 2010, The New Yorker named her one of the top 20 writers under 40. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker and The Best American Short Stories among others. She teaches writing at UC Davis. storyhour.berkeley.edu