Tom Wentao Lin[1] (born c. 1996[2]) is an American novelist. His debut novel, The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu, a Western about a Chinese American outlaw, was published by Little, Brown and Company in 2021[2][3][4] and won the 2022 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction.
Early life and education
editLin was born in Beijing, China, and moved to Flushing, Queens, New York City with his family when he was four.[2] He attended Pomona College.[2] As of 2021[update], he is pursuing a doctorate in English at the University of California, Davis.[3]
Career
editLin's debut novel, The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu, was published by Little, Brown and Company on June 1, 2021.[2] It is a Western with supernatural elements set in the 1860s about a Chinese American assassin who pursues vengeance after railroad barons kidnap his lover and conscript him into helping construct the Central Pacific Railroad.[5][2][6] Media[who?] praised the story's subversion of the white-centric perspective of traditional westerns and its exploration of identity.[3][4][7] The novel was awarded the 2022 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, making Lin the youngest Carnegie winner.[8]
Works
edit- The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu. Little, Brown and Company. June 1, 2021. ISBN 978-0-316-54217-3.[5]
References
edit- ^ Reed, Arden (2017). Slow Art. Oakland, California: University of California Press. ISBN 9780520285507.
- ^ a b c d e f Alter, Alexandra (May 31, 2021). "With a Chinese American Gunslinger, He's Challenging the Whiteness of Westerns". The New York Times. Retrieved June 1, 2021.
- ^ a b c Wong, Ashley (May 18, 2021). "What makes us American? A UC Davis student tackles identity and violence in new book". The Sacramento Bee. Retrieved June 1, 2021.
- ^ a b May 31, Jessica Zack (May 31, 2021). "'The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu': Debut novel gives revenge Western a Chinese American perspective". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved June 1, 2021.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ a b The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu. Little, Brown and Company. October 6, 2020. ISBN 9780316542173. Retrieved June 1, 2021.
- ^ Lichtenstein, Grace (June 2021). "Book Review - The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu by Tom Lin". BookPage. Retrieved June 1, 2021.
- ^ Hong, Terry (May 6, 2021). "Review: The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu". Shelf Awareness. Retrieved June 1, 2021.
- ^ Italie, Hillel (January 24, 2022). "Hanif Abdurraqib, Tom Lin receive Carnegie literary awards". Associated Press. Retrieved January 24, 2022.