Kelly Yang
1 book analyzed
Biography
Kelly Yang emigrated from China to the United States at age six. Her family settled in Southern California, where her parents managed budget motels — the direct autobiographical basis for Front Desk. Yang worked the front desk herself as a child, checking in guests, doing laundry, and cleaning rooms after school. She attended the University of California, Berkeley, and Harvard Law School before turning to writing. She has spoken publicly about the racism she experienced in California schools, the exploitation her parents endured from motel owners, and the way writing became her primary form of agency. Front Desk, her debut middle-grade novel, won the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature in 2019 and became a New York Times bestseller.