David Wong Louie (; December 20, 1954 â September 19, 2018) was a Chinese-American novelist and short story writer.
Born in Rockville Centre, New York, Louie graduated from East Meadow High School in 1973, as "one of the few Asian-Americans" in the school. He received an M.F.A. (Master of Fine Arts) in Creative Writing from the University of Iowa in 1981 and an A.B. from Vassar College in 1977. He taught at Vassar College and the University of California, Los Angeles.
Louie's short story collection, Pangs of Love received the 1991 First Fiction Award from the Los Angeles Times and the John C. Zacharis First Book Award from Ploughshares. It was also named a Notable Book by The New York Times and a Voice Literary Supplement Favorite. The Barbarians are Coming won the Shirley Collier Prize.
In 2001, he was awarded a Lannan Literary Fellowship. He has also had a fellowship with the National Foundation for the Advancement of Arts.
His short story "Displacement" was included in 100 Years of the Best American Short Stories, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt October 6, 2015.
Louie's essay "Eat, Memory," on his experience living with throat cancer, receiving a tracheostomy tube, and using a G-tube for six years, was originally published in Harper's Magazine in August 2017. The essay was included in Best American Essays 2018, edited by Hilton Als. Louie died due to throat cancer on September 19, 2018.
from March 2008: