Sarah Shun-lien Bynum

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Sarah Shun-lien Bynum
Born (1972-02-14) February 14, 1972 (age 53)
Houston, Texas, United States
OccupationWriter
Alma mater Brown University
Iowa Writers' Workshop
Notable awards Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize (2004)
Whiting Award (2005)
Relatives Taylor Ho Bynum (brother)
Website
www.sarahshunlienbynum.com

Sarah Shun-lien Bynum (born February 14, 1972) [1] is an American writer, of Chinese descent. She previously taught writing and literature in the graduate MFA writing program at Otis College of Art and Design until 2015. [2] She lives in Los Angeles, California, with her husband and daughter.

Contents

Biography

Sarah Shun-lien Bynum was born on February 14, 1972, in Houston, Texas. [1] Her brother is musician Taylor Ho Bynum. [3]

Bynum is a graduate of Brown University and the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop.

Career

Fairy tales are a common theme in many of her works. Bynum describes fairy tales by saying that "they always walk that line between wonder and darkness." [4] Madeleine is Sleeping was published by Harcourt in 2004, was a finalist for the National Book Award, and winner of the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize. Her short stories, including excerpts from her new novel, have appeared in The New Yorker , Tin House , Triquarterly, The Georgia Review, Alaska Quarterly Review , and in Best American Short Stories . [5] Her second novel, Ms. Hempel Chronicles, was published in September 2008 and was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award in 2009. [6]

In a 2009 book review of Ms. Hempel Chronicles published in the Sunday book review of The New York Times, Josh Emmons notes that Bynum's "prose remains nimble and entertaining, a model of quiet control well suited to its subject" and that the "deftness with which [Ms. Hempel] observes and describes her world and its inhabitants is so engaging that for all its circumspection and regrettable lacunae, “Ms. Hempel Chronicles” works as an account of how nostalgia — both for what was and might have been — can generate a thousand mercies." [7]

In 2010, Bynum was named one of The New Yorker's top "20 Under 40" fiction writers in which the editors note her works "offer idiosyncratic, voice-driven narratives." [8]

In 2017, she was featured in an interview in The New Yorker on surviving adolescence and social media. [9]

Awards

Works

Books

Anthologies

Short stories

Essays

Book reviews

Readings

References

  1. 1 2 "Sarah Shun-lien Bynum". The New Yorker . June 14, 2010. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  2. ↑ "Otis College of Art and Design".
  3. ↑ Ng, Ivana (October 8, 2009) "Taylor Ho Bynum & Spidermonkey Strings: Madeleine Dreams". All About Jazz.
  4. ↑ "Wonder and Darkness: interview with writer Sarah Shun-lien Bynum". Asia Pacific Arts. 2 November 2011.
  5. ↑ Bios of 2005 Whiting Writers' Award Recipients - Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation Archived 2011-07-16 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 9-20-06
  6. ↑ Contributor Bio, The New Yorker, July 21, 2008.
  7. ↑ Emmons, Josh (January 30, 2009). "Chalk Dust Memories". The New York Times Book Review.
  8. ↑ "20 Under 40". The New Yorker. June 2010.
  9. ↑ Davidson, Willing (October 2017). "Sarah Shun-lien Bynum on Surviving Adolescence and Social Media". The New Yorker.
  10. ↑ "Sarah Shun-lien Bynum Reads Yiyun Li". The New Yorker. December 2017.
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