Ha Jin facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Ha Jin 哈金
Born	(1956-02-21) February 21, 1956 (age 69) Liaoning, China
Pen name	Ha Jin
Occupation	Poet novelist teacher
Nationality	American
Education	Heilongjiang University (BA) Shandong University (MA) Brandeis University (PhD)
Genre	Poetry, short story, novel, essay
Subjects	China
Notable works	List The Boat Rocker Waiting In the Pond War Trash Ocean of Words The Bridegroom
Notable awards	List Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction (1996) Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award (1997) Guggenheim Fellowship (1999) National Book Award (1999) PEN/Faulkner Award (2000) Asian Fellowship (2000–2002) Townsend Prize for Fiction (2002) PEN/Faulkner Award (2005) American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2006) Dayton Literary Peace Prize, runner-up, Nanjing Requiem (2012)
Spouse	Lisha Bian
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Jin Xuefei (simplified Chinese: 金雪飞; traditional Chinese: 金雪飛; pinyin: Jīn Xuěfēi; born February 21, 1956) is a Chinese American poet and novelist. He writes under the pen name Ha Jin (Chinese: 哈金). The name Ha comes from his favorite city, Harbin, in China.

Ha Jin's Early Life and Education

Ha Jin was born in Liaoning, China. When he was thirteen, he joined the People's Liberation Army during a time of big changes in China called the Cultural Revolution. At sixteen, Jin started teaching himself about Chinese literature and high school subjects.

He left the army when he was nineteen. He then went to Heilongjiang University and earned a bachelor's degree in English. After that, he got a master's degree in Anglo-American literature from Shandong University.

Moving to the United States

Ha Jin was studying at Brandeis University in the United States when important events happened in China in 1989. These events made him decide to move to the U.S. permanently. He chose to write his books in English to make sure his work could be shared freely. He later earned a Ph.D.

Ha Jin's Career as a Writer

Ha Jin often sets his stories and novels in a made-up place in China called Muji City. He has won many important awards for his writing.

Award-Winning Books

His novel, Waiting (1999), won both the National Book Award for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. He has also received three Pushcart Prizes for his short stories. Many of his short stories have been chosen for The Best American Short Stories collections.

His book Under the Red Flag (1997) won the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction. Another collection, Ocean of Words (1996), was given the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel.

War Trash (2004) is a novel about the Korean War. This book won Ha Jin his second PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. This made him one of only a few authors to win this award more than once. War Trash was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Teaching and Other Work

Ha Jin teaches at Boston University in Boston, Massachusetts. He used to teach at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.

In 2014, he became a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. This is a special group that honors artists and writers. An asteroid was even named after him in 2021! It's called (58495) Hajin.

Awards and Honors Ha Jin Has Received

• Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction (1996)
• PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel (1997)
• Guggenheim Fellowship (1999)
• National Book Award for Fiction (1999)
• PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction (2000)
• Asian Fellowship (2000–2002)
• Townsend Prize for Fiction (2002)
• PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction (2005)
• Fellow of American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2006)
• Dayton Literary Peace Prize, runner-up, Nanjing Requiem (2012)
• PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award for A Distant Center (2019)

Books by Ha Jin

See also

In Spanish: Ha Jin para niños

• Saboteur (short story) (2000)