Thanhha Lai

Thanhha Lai is a Vietnamese-American author of children's and young adult literature. Born in Saigon, Vietnam, in 1965, she fled the country with her family during the Fall of Saigon in 1975. After arriving in Alabama, she learned English and later graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in journalism. She earned a Master of Fine Arts from New York University and now teaches at Parsons The New School for Design. Lai is the author of "Inside Out & Back Again," which won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature and a Newbery Honor. Her other works include "Listen, Slowly," "Butterfly Yellow," and "Hundred Years of Happiness." She lives in upstate New York with her husband and daughter.