EMILY SUN LI
 

Emily Sun Li is a Chinese American children’s book author whose work celebrates imagination, empathy, and the everyday joy of being alive and connecting with one another. She wholeheartedly believes in the power of a good story and a well-placed metaphor to change people (and the world!) for the better.

 

Sun Li’s nonfiction chapter book, The Good, the Bad, and the Fluffy: True Stories of Animal Troublemakers, was published by Scholastic in Fall 2024. Her debut picture book, Mr. Chow’s Night Market (Penguin Workshop, 2026), was called “a visual delight—and vindication for night owls” by Kirkus Reviews. Forthcoming titles include Disney’s Lilo & Stitch: Into the Volcano (Scholastic, Fall 2026) and The Lo Mein Loophole: A Sweet-and-Sour Tale of How Chinese Immigrants Found a Way—and Fed a Nation (Penguin Workshop, Summer 2028).

 

Her writing has been recognized by the YoungArts Foundation and the City of Boston. She has also received support from the Fine Arts Work Center, the Key West Literary Seminar, Centrum, the Sue-Je Lee Gage Sunlit Residency for Human Rights and Social Justice, Tin House, and the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts.

 

Sun Li began her career in education, teaching high school English literature through the University of Pennsylvania’s Independent School Teaching Residency program and elementary English in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant. She holds an M.S.Ed. from the University of Pennsylvania, as well as an MA in Children’s Literature and an MFA in Writing for Children from Simmons University. She is also an alumna of both Choate Rosemary Hall and Emory University, where she studied creative writing and environmental science, graduating summa cum laude.

 

She lives in Ithaca, New York, where she works as a bookseller and loves visiting schools to share the joy of writing with young people. When she isn’t working on her next book, she’s probably procrasti-cleaning, drinking milk tea, traveling, or fiddling with a new song or poem.