Celeste Ng

Celeste Ng is a critically acclaimed author and the founder of the tech company Character laboratory. She is best known for her debut novel, Everything I Never Told You, as well as for her award-winning short stories and other works of fiction and nonfiction.

Ng was born in Pittsburgh in 1980, and grew up in Cleveland, followed by Chicago, Kansas City, and Pittsburgh again. She began her career as a freelance writer, working for several international magazines and newspapers. During this period, she also wrote several short stories, which gained her recognition in the literary world and led to the publication of her first collection, The History Between Us.

In 2014, her debut novel, Everything I Never Told You, was published to critical acclaim. The novel tells the story of a mixed-race family, who live in 1970s small town Ohio and grapple with the loss of a teenage daughter, while exploring issues of race, identity and belonging. Ng's exploration of nuanced themes and themes of grief earned her several awards, including the Amazon Book of the Year and the Massachusetts Book Award.

In 2016, Ng released her second novel, Little Fires Everywhere. This bestselling novel follows a pair of mothers, one from a working-class family and one from a privileged background, and their contentious relationship as their lives and their differences collide. The novel tackles, among other topics, race, class, and art, while intertwining the two stories of these two vastly different women. It, too, has earned her several accolades, including the Ohioana Book Award and the Alex Award.

Ng has also written nonfiction works and contributed essays to a variety of magazines. She was selected for Granta's "Best of Young American Novelist" list, won the University of Wisconsin's Brittingham Prize in Poetry, and was named a finalist for the National Book Award.

In addition to her writing career, Ng is also the founder and CEO of the tech company Character Laboratory, which develops creative writing tools. She is a passionate advocate of the full inclusion of writers from diverse backgrounds, having experienced first-hand the lack of diversity in the publishing industry.

Celeste Ng's works have garnered her acclaim not just for the impact their themes have, but also for her nuanced exploration of characters and power dynamics throughout her various works. By introducing characters with multiple layers and perspectives, Ng captures the complexity of human experience and encourages readers to form deeper connections with each other and to the text itself.