Yiyun Li

Yiyun Li is the main character and author of Dear Friend, from My Life I Write to You in Your Life. She is a professional writer who has written four books of fiction. Dear Friend is her first memoir and work of nonfiction. Until writing it, she has rejected the idea of being an autobiographical writer, thus making her authorship of a memoir somewhat of an ironic departure from her traditional style and genre.

Yiyun Li was born and grew up in Beijing under the Chinese Communist regime. Her father passed onto her his beliefs in fatalism while her mother was a difficult, volatile, and angry character who appears to have had a negative impact on Li's young life. Li discovered a love of reading early on but initially pursued a career in science as an immunologist. In her early university days she did mandatory military...