Weike Wang

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For the Chinese translator, see Wang Weike.

Weike Wang
Born
Nanjing, China
NationalityChinese American
Alma materHarvard University (B.A., S.M., S.D.) Boston University (M.F.A.)
OccupationWriter
Notable work
Chemistry
AwardsPEN/Hemingway Award, Whiting Award
Websitewww.weikewangwrites.com

Weike Wang is a Chinese-American author. She is the author of the novel Chemistry,[1] which won the 2018 PEN/Hemingway Award.

Her fiction has been published in Glimmer Train, the Alaska Quarterly Review, Ploughshares, Kenyon Review, The New Yorker, and Redivider.[2]

Life[]

Wang was born in Nanjing, China, but she and her family moved when she was 5 years old. She lived in Australia, Canada, and the United States before high school, arriving in the United States with her family at the age of 11.[3][4][5] Wang once described a community she grew up in as "a very rural town, and everyone was white. I was the only Asian person in my school."[6]

After high school, Wang attended Harvard University, where she studied chemistry for her undergraduate degree and public health for her doctorate. While she was pre-med as an undergrad, she began reconsidering going to medical school. While finishing her doctorate, she also attended Boston University, where she received her MFA.[7][8]

Career[]

In 2017, Wang was selected by author Sherman Alexie to be part of the National Book Foundation's annual 5 under 35 list. In its citation, the National Book Award called Wang "a brilliant new literary voice that astutely juxtaposes the elegance of science, the anxieties of finding a place in the world, and the sacrifices made for love and family."[9] In 2018, she received a Whiting Award for Fiction, one of 10 awarded each year to emerging writers.[10]

Her 2018 short story "Omakase" was selected for inclusion in the Best American Short Stories 2019 anthology by editors Anthony Doerr and Heidi Pitlor[11] and in the 2019 O. Henry Prize Anthology by prize jurors Lynn Freed, Elizabeth Strout, and Lara Vapnyar.[12][13]

Writing style[]

Critics have often noted that Wang rarely names her main characters in her major works.[14] The Chinese American protagonist of Chemistry remains nameless throughout the novel, as do her parents and everyone except for the heroine's boyfriend Eric.[15] Wang continued her trend of nameless characters in her short story Omakase, which was published in The New Yorker in 2018.[16] "I am terrible at naming characters," Wang told The New Yorker in 2018, adding that she also considers context and her characters lives' when she decides to leave them nameless.[17]

Bibliography[]

  • Chemistry. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 2017.
  • "Omakase". The New Yorker. June 18, 2018.
  • "Hair". Boulevard. October 28, 2018.
  • "The Trip". The New Yorker. 95 (36): 62–67. November 18, 2019.
  • "The Poster". Gulf Coast. Spring 2020.
  • "Flight Home". The New Yorker. April 6, 2020.

References[]

  1. ^ Hu, Jane (November 15, 2017). "The "Inscrutable" Voices of Asian-Anglophone Fiction". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved May 12, 2018.
  2. ^ "Weike Wang". www.glimmertrain.com. Retrieved May 5, 2019.
  3. ^ "Weike Wang". www.glimmertrain.com. Retrieved May 5, 2019.
  4. ^ "'Chemistry' Is an Anti-Coming-of-Age Story". The New York Times. May 25, 2017. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 12, 2018.
  5. ^ "Weike Wang combines humor, science, and depression in debut novel 'Chemistry'". NBC News. Retrieved May 12, 2018.
  6. ^ "Science, Fiction: An Interview with Weike Wang". Asian American Writers' Workshop. January 31, 2018. Retrieved May 5, 2019.
  7. ^ "Weike Wang's 'Chemistry' Wins $25,000 PEN/Hemingway Award – PEN America". PEN America. Retrieved May 12, 2018.
  8. ^ "Debut Author Weike Wang Wins $25,000 PEN/Hemingway Award for "Elliptical Prose" in Chemistry – PEN America". PEN America. Retrieved May 12, 2018.
  9. ^ "Weike Wang". National Book Foundation. Retrieved May 5, 2019.
  10. ^ Woolhouse, Megan. "Weike Wang Wins Whiting Award". Bostonia. Boston University. Retrieved May 19, 2020.
  11. ^ Doerr, Anthony; Pitlor, Heidi (October 1, 2019). The Best American Short Stories 2019. HMH Books. ISBN 9781328484246.
  12. ^ "Announcing the 100th Annual O. Henry Prize". LitHub. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  13. ^ Furman, Laura; Freed, Lynn; Strout, Elizabeth; Vapnyar, Lara (September 10, 2019). The O. Henry Prize Stories 100th Anniversary Edition (2019). Anchor. ISBN 9780525565536.
  14. ^ "'Chemistry: A Novel' Is About A Scientist Whose Plans Get Reconstituted". NPR.org. Retrieved May 5, 2019.
  15. ^ Hu, Jane (November 15, 2017). "The "Inscrutable" Voices of Asian-Anglophone Fiction". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved May 5, 2019.
  16. ^ Wang, Weike (June 11, 2018). ""Omakase"". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved May 5, 2019.
  17. ^ Treisman, Deborah (June 11, 2018). "Weike Wang on the Privilege of Not Having to Think About Race". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved May 5, 2019.


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