About Jean Kwok

Jean Kwok is the New York Times and international bestselling, award-winning author of SEARCHING FOR SYLVIE LEE, GIRL IN TRANSLATION and MAMBO IN CHINATOWN. Her work has been published in twenty countries and taught in universities, colleges, and high schools across the world. An instant New York Times bestseller, SEARCHING FOR SYLVIE LEE was selected by Jenna Bush Hager for the Today Show Book Club, Emma Roberts for the Belletrist Book Club, Oprah Winfrey for her summer reading list and called “this summer’s book club sensation” by Entertainment Weekly. Jean has been selected for numerous honors, including the American Library Association Alex Award, the Chinese American Librarians Association Best Book Award, and the Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award international shortlist. She is trilingual, fluent in Dutch, Chinese, and English, and studied Latin for seven years. Jean immigrated from Hong Kong to Brooklyn when she was five and worked in a Chinatown clothing factory for much of her childhood. She received her bachelor's degree from Harvard and completed an MFA in fiction at Columbia University. She currently lives in the Netherlands with her husband, two boys and three cats.