Jean Kwok
| Jean Kwok | |
|---|---|
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| Born | Hong Kong |
| Occupation | novelist |
| Period | current |
| Genre | Novel |
| Notable works | Girl in Translation, Mambo in Chinatown |
| Website | |
| www |
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Jean Kwok is a contemporary Chinese American writer and the award-winning, bestselling author of two novels: Girl in Translation and Mambo in Chinatown. Kwok's family immigrated to the United States from Hong Kong when she was only five years old. She spent much of her childhood working in a clothing factory located in Chinatown, close to Brooklyn, NY.
Kwok is an accomplished scholar who attended Harvard University. Since her family was not well off, Kwok had to work up to four jobs at a time in order to put herself through college. While at Harvard, Kwok learned that she loved to dance and worked as a professional ballroom dancer for three years after graduation. This experience helped form the basis of her second novel, Mambo in Chinatown. Kwok then decided to go back to school to pursue her MFA in fiction at Columbia University.
Kwok currently lives in the Netherlands with her husband, their two sons, and their cats. Kwok can speak English, Cantonese, and Dutch fluently, which can be seen in the Dutch VPRO documentary filmed about her, released in 2012.
When Jean was five years old, her family decided to immigrate to Brooklyn, New York. The apartment that she, her parents and siblings lived in was roach-infested and they did not have any central heating. She had to work in a Chinatown clothing factory for much of her childhood. After elementary school, Kwok was accepted to Hunter College High School, a public secondary school for intellectually gifted students. Upon graduation from high school, she won early admission to Harvard College. Originally interested in science, in part to escape a life toiling in a factory, she realized when she was at Harvard that she could follow her dream instead. This realization prompted Jean to change her concentration to English and American Literature. She received her BA in English with honors, all while working up to four jobs at a time. After pursuing dance for a few years after graduation, Kwok then decided it was time to go back to school and received her MFA in fiction at Columbia University. She then moved to the Netherlands and worked for Leiden University, teaching English and as a Dutch-English translator. She speaks English, Chinese, Dutch and studied Latin. She lives in the Netherlands with her husband and two sons, and now writes full-time.
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