Leslie Chang

Education

Harvard University.

Career

A former China correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, she has been described as "an insightful interpreter of a society in flux."

In response to the negative press surrounding working conditions in Chinese factories, Chang decided to explore the subject from the perspective of the workers. In 2004 she traveled to the South Central China factory city of Dongguan to document the lives of Wu Chunming and Lu Qingmin, two migrant workers who were born to poor farming families. The book follows their lives over three years and also includes the author"s own family history of migration within China and to the West.

According to Chang"s website, translations are forthcoming in French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Finnish, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, and Arabic.

Leslie Chang is the daughter of physicist Leroy Chang. She graduated from Harvard College in 1991.

Her husband is author Peter Hessler.

Achievements

• Was named one of the New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2008 and also received the 2009 Poets, Playwrights, Editors, Essayists and Novelists association United States of America Literary Award for Research Nonfiction and the Asian American Literary Award for nonfiction.