Frances Cha
Frances Cha is a South Korean and American writer. She was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, lived in Texas when she was very young, went to elementary school in Hong Kong, moved to Korea when she was 11 or 12, and currently teaches fiction in Columbia University's Master of Fine Arts program. She is a former travel and culture editor for CNN in Seoul and Hong Kong.
Education
Cha knew she wanted to become a writer at age eight. Cha graduated from Dartmouth College with a bachelor's degree in English Literature and Asian Studies in 2007. The large amounts of time she spent in both Korea and the United States taught her to navigate multiple cultures and to write for multiple audiences. She has dual US and South Korean citizenship. At Dartmouth she was editor-in-chief of the literary journal. While at Dartmouth, Catherine Tudish and Cleopatra Mathis were significant influences upon her. Cha graduated from Columbia's School of the Arts master's program in creative writing in 2011.
Career
Cha's first novel, If I Had Your Face, is about four young women in Seoul trying to find their way in a world defined by unrealistic standards of beauty amidst economic inequity, entrenched classism, and patriarchy. This book was "named one of the Best Books of the Year by Time Magazine, NPR, and BBC, among other publications." In relation to having four main characters, the number four is considered unlucky in Korea because it sounds like the word for death.
Works
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