Susan Choi

Susan Choi is a novelist whose work reflects a deep engagement with the complexities of identity, memory, and truth. Born in South Bend, Indiana, and raised between there and Houston, Texas, she brings a layered perspective to her writing—shaped by both place and personal history. She studied literature at Yale University and later honed her craft in writing at Cornell, experiences that deeply inform her storytelling. Before turning to fiction full time, she worked as a fact-checker at The New Yorker, where her meticulous attention to detail began to take root.

Her most recent novel, Trust Exercise (link), won the 2019 National Book Award for Fiction and became a national bestseller. The novel struck a cultural chord, earning recognition from numerous publications, including The Washington Post, Vanity Fair, New York Magazine, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, Buzzfeed, Entertainment Weekly, Los Angeles Times, ELLE, Bustle, Town & Country, Publishers Weekly, The Millions, The Chicago Tribune, and TIME as one of the best books of 2019.

Choi’s debut novel, The Foreign Student, was awarded the Asian-American Literary Award for Fiction, while her second novel, American Woman, was a finalist for the 2004 Pulitzer Prize, showcasing her continued evolution as a powerful voice in American fiction.

She also collaborated with David Remnick to co-edit Wonderful Town: New York Stories from The New Yorker, a celebration of the city’s literary life. Her nonfiction has appeared in a range of outlets including Vogue, Tin House, Allure, O, The Oprah Magazine, and The New York Times, as well as in anthologies like Money Changes Everything and Brooklyn Was Mine.

A recipient of prestigious fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation, Choi lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband, food critic Pete Wells, and their two sons, Dexter and Elliot.