Sarah Shun-lien Bynum

Who is Sarah Shun-lien Bynum?

Sarah Shun-lien Bynum is an American writer.

She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and daughter and teaches writing and literature at Otis College of Art and Design. Bynum is a graduate of Brown University and the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop. As fairy tales are a common theme in many of her works, Bynum expressed that it was because she loved that "they always walk that line between wonder and darkness," as well as the "disturbing energy" that they hold. Madeleine is Sleeping, was published by Harcourt in 2004 and 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. Her next novel, Ms. Hempel Chronicles, was published in September 2008 and was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award in 2009.

In 2010, Bynum was named one of the New Yorker Magazine's top "20 Under 40" fiction writers.