Elaine Hsieh Chou

Elaine Hsieh Chou (born c. 1987) is a Taiwanese American author and screenwriter from California,^[1][2][3] best known for her debut novel, Disorientation (2022),^[4][5][6][7] which was shortlisted for the Thurber Prize for American Humor and Young Lions Fiction Award.^[8][9]

Elaine Chou
Born	c. 1987 (aged c. 37) California, United States
Notable work	Disorientation

Career

A former Rona Jaffe Graduate Fellow at New York University (NYU) and New York Feminist Art Institute (NYFA) Artist Fellow, Chou's Pushcart Prize-winning short fiction has been published in Guernica, Black Warrior Review, Tin House, Ploughshares, The Atlantic and elsewhere. As a writing and workshop instructor, she has taught fiction at NYU, the Adroit Journal Summer Mentorship Program, Catapult, the Accent Society, Kundiman, and Tin House.

Her debut novel Disorientation was published by Penguin Press in the United States on March 22, 2022; it was first released in the United Kingdom in paperback form by Picador, July 21, 2022. The novel was optioned by Apple TV+ the same month it was released, and a film adaption was announced on September 27, 2022; Chou is writing the screenplay.^[10] The novel received praise, and it was a New York Times Editors' Choice Book and an NPR Best Book of 2022. Chou was shortlisted afterwards for the Thurber Prize for American Humor and Young Lions Fiction Award.^[8][9]

She is the recipient of the 2023 Fred R. Brown Literary Award.^{[citation needed]}

Her multi-genre short story collection Where Are You Really From is forthcoming from Penguin Press in 2025.

Awards

Year	Title	Award	Category	Result	Ref
2023	Disorientation	Chinese American Librarians Association Best Book Award	Adult Fiction (成人读物—小说类)	Honor Book	[11]
		Thurber Prize for American Humor	—	Shortlisted	[8]
		Young Lions Fiction Award	—	Shortlisted	[9]
	—	Fred R. Brown Literary Award	—	Won	[citation needed]

Bibliography

Books

• Disorientation (2022)
• Where Are You Really From (forthcoming 2025)

Short stories