Born into the Vietnam War in 1973, Nguyen Phan Que Mai grew up witnessing the war¿s devastation and its aftermath. She worked as a street vendor and rice farmer before winning a scholarship to attend university in Australia. Upon her return to Vietnam, Que Mai contributed to the sustainable development of her homeland via her work with local and international organizations including UN agencies.

She is the author of eight books of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction in Vietnamese; The Secret of Hoa Sen (BOA, 2014) is her first international publication, followed by her debut novel in English The Mountains Sing (Algonquin Books, 2020). Que Mai's writing has been translated and published in more than 10 countries and has received many honors, including the Poetry of the Year 2010 Award from the Hanoi Writers Association. Currently based in Indonesia, Que Mai¿s journalism regularly appears in major Vietnamese newspapers. For more information about Nguyen Phan Que Mai, visit her at nguyenphanquemai.com