Nami Mun
Nami Mun grew up in Seoul, South Korea and Bronx, New York. For her first book, Miles from Nowhere, she received a Whiting Award and a Pushcart Prize, and was shortlisted for the Orange Award and the Asian American Literary Award. Miles From Nowhere became a national bestseller within first weeks of publication and was selected as "Editors’ Choice" and "Top Ten First Novels" by Booklist, "Best Fiction of 2009 So Far by Amazon," and as an Indie Next Pick. Chicago Magazine named her "Best New Novelist of 2009."
Previously, Nami has worked as an Avon Lady, a street vendor, a photojournalist, a waitress, an activities coordinator for a nursing home, and a criminal defense investigator. After earning a GED, she went on to get a BA in English from UC Berkeley, an MFA from University of Michigan, and has garnered fellowships from organizations such as Yaddo, MacDowell, Bread Loaf, and Tin House. Her stories have been published in Granta, Tin House, The Iowa Review, The Pushcart Prize Anthology, Evergreen Review, Witness, and elsewhere. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing in Chicago.
“I looked at Mr. McCommon, his hands smothering his face, his chest flinching. He had no idea that grief was a reward. That it only came to those who were loyal, to those who loved more than they were capable of. He had a garage, full of her belongings, and all I had was my guilt. It took on its own shape and smell and nestled in the pit of my body, and it would sleep and play and walk with me for decades to come.”
“Life's only as bad as you make it out to be. It's go nothing to do with the way it is.”
“And at the start of every new day, I still believed I could choose my own beginning, one that was scrubbed clean of everything past”
“Don't you ever get a tattoo, understand? All is says is that you ain't open to change.”
“Hope was based on the unknown, and I liked knowing things. Like that I was going to fail. Failure had better odds. ”
“I knew that we'd never get there. I knew this, in the same way I knew Tati would never be a teacher, and that Benny would be the end of me. Life's about confirming what we already know. About making sure. ”
“He had no idea that grief was a reward. That it only came to those who were loyal, to those who loved more than they were capable of. ”