Hello! I'm Irene, and I write short stories, novels, and screenplays. I live in Los Angeles, but I'm from Seattle and my family is from China.

You can read my "very depressing" short stories in the North American Review, Pinch, Uncharted, and more. My only slightly less depressing personal essays appear in Joysauce, The New York Times, and Roads & Kingdoms. In selected work, you will find a selection of my work. I am currently writing one novel and revising another.

I'm very grateful to have received scholarships from Bread Loaf + The Rona Jaffe Foundation and Tin House, as well as residencies from Yaddo and The Mount + Straw Dog Writers Guild. In 2025, I was also a finalist for One Story's Adina Talve-Goodman fellowship. My filmmaking has received support from Stowe Story Labs and Fulbright Morocco. During the latter, I lived with a circus in Casablanca. Twice a year, I abscond to Mendocino with my parents to hunt for chanterelles.

Please enjoy this picture of me reading a ghost story in a spooky house.

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