Catherine Chung was born in Evanston, IL, and received an MFA from Cornell University. Her debut novel Forgotten Country won an Honorable Mention for the PEN/Hemingway Award, and she was a Granta New Voice, a 2014 National Endowment for the Arts Fellow, and a Director's Visitor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. She is currently a fiction editor at Guernica, and lives in New York City.
In Forgotten Country, Catherine Chung tells an inexpressibly beautiful story about a Korean family with a complex history...The story builds quietly, meticulously, and Chung does a masterful job of weaving the past with the present, incorporating mythology and memory in ways that both captivate and haunt - Roxane Gay, praise for Forgotten Country A richly emotional portrait of a family that had me spellbound from page one - Cheryl Strayed, bestselling author of Wild, praise for Forgotten Country Poetically crafted, shimmering with hard-won emotion, and wholly absorbing. A superb performance - Chang-rae Lee, praise for Forgotten Country A moving and deeply personal story of a family caught between two very different countries and very different lives - Alison Lurie, praise for Forgotten Country [An]...unflinchingly honest examination of grief, anger, familial obligation, and love - The New Yorker, praise for Forgotten Country In her gorgeous debut, Chung offers a heartbreaking story about sisters, family, and keeping traditions alive - People magazine, praise for Forgotten Country Chung indelibly portays a Korea viciously divided, but ever bound to history, myth, and hope - O, The Oprah Magazine, praise for Forgotten Country