Leonard
Chang was born in New York City, and grew up on Long Island, where
he attended the public schools in Merrick. After high school,
Leonard studied at Dartmouth
College, interned
with the Peace Corps in Kingston, Jamaica, and continued his studies in Philosophy
at Harvard University, where he
graduated with honors. He attended the graduate creative writing
program
at
the University
of California at Irvine, and received his Master's of Fine Arts.
His first novel, entitled The
Fruit 'N Food, was published in 1996 and won the Black Heron
Press Award for Social Fiction that year, and is now taught at
universities around the world. His second novel, Dispatches from the Cold (Black Heron,
1998) won a San Francisco Bay Guardian Goldie Award for
Literature. He is also the author
of a popular and critically-acclaimed noir trilogy, which includes Over the Shoulder (Ecco/HarperCollins,
2001), Underkill
(St. Martin's, 2003) and Fade to Clear (St.
Martin's, 2004), a USA Today Summer Reading Pick and a finalist
for the Shamus Award.
His
novels
have
been
translated
and
published
in
France,
Japan
and Korea, and recently the U.S. Consulate in Berlin sponsored his multi-city
lecture/reading tour of Germany.
His new novel, Crossings, will be published in the Fall of 2009.
In addition to novels, he writes short stories, essays, and book reviews, and his work has appeared in numerous literary journals, including The Crescent Review, Prairie Schooner, Confluence, The Literary Review, Bamboo Ridge, and Lynx Eye. He was a Visiting Distinguished Writer at Mills College, and currently teaches at Antioch University's MFA Program.
Web Interviews, Essays and Literary Criticism:
An early interview with Bill Han
Over the Shoulder Reader's Guide
German PhD Dissertation on Asian American Literature [See Chapter Five, p. 150ff.(Large file)]
"Why I Love Crime Fiction" - an essay
A follow-up interview with Bill Han
San Francisco Chronicle profile
An edited and condensed speech (mpeg audiofile)
An Interview with Calvin McMillin
An Interview with Nichelle Tramble
A few questions with Genie Giaimo
A "Where are they now" profile in the Long Island Herald
A third interview with Bill Han
A web interview with Marc Strassman for Harvardwood
Here's a suggested reading list Leonard gives his writing students.