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

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Lin 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, he is pursuing a doctorate in English at the University of California, Davis.[3]

Career

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Lin'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

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  • The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu. Little, Brown and Company. June 1, 2021. ISBN 978-0-316-54217-3.[5]

References

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  1. ^ Reed, Arden (2017). Slow Art. Oakland, California: University of California Press. ISBN 9780520285507.
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ 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)
  5. ^ a b The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu. Little, Brown and Company. October 6, 2020. ISBN 9780316542173. Retrieved June 1, 2021.
  6. ^ Lichtenstein, Grace (June 2021). "Book Review - The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu by Tom Lin". BookPage. Retrieved June 1, 2021.
  7. ^ Hong, Terry (May 6, 2021). "Review: The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu". Shelf Awareness. Retrieved June 1, 2021.
  8. ^ Italie, Hillel (January 24, 2022). "Hanif Abdurraqib, Tom Lin receive Carnegie literary awards". Associated Press. Retrieved January 24, 2022.
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