{{Infobox writer | name = Bonnie Tsui | nationality = American | birth_date = | notableworks = | occupation = Novelist | awards = }}
{{short description|American author and journalist}} '''Bonnie Tsui''' (born 1977){{cn|date=January 2026}} is an American author and journalist of Hong Kong descent. She was born in New York, New York, graduated from Harvard University,<ref>{{Cite magazine|magazine=Harvard Magazine|url=https://harvardmagazine.com/2020/05/montage-off-the-shelf|title=Off the Shelf|date=10 April 2020}}</ref> and currently lives in Berkeley, California. She grew up a competitive swimmer.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wares |first=Donna |last2= |date=2020-07-18 |title=Book Club: Heroes of the water |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/newsletter/2020-07-18/why-we-swim-bonnie-tsui-book-club-book-club |url-status=live |access-date=2026-01-29 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref> ''American Chinatown: A People’s History of Five Neighborhoods'' was published by Simon & Schuster's Free Press in 2009. The ''Los Angeles Times''<ref>{{Cite web|last=Ciuraru|first=Carmela|date=2009-09-07|title=A talk with Bonnie Tsui, writer of 'American Chinatown'|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-chinatown7-2009sep07-story.html|access-date=2020-08-15|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US}}</ref> said it "explored their class struggles, rivalries, customs and dialects," of the cities' Chinatowns. Tsui also contributes essays and cultural commentary to well-known American magazines, including ''The New York Times'' and ''California Sunday''.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-08-07|title=The Paleo Climate of California|url=https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/paleo-climate-change-california-coral|access-date=2020-08-15|website=Sierra Club|language=en}}</ref> In 2020, she published a memoir, ''Why We Swim'', with Algonquin Books,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Workman Publishing|url=https://www.workman.com/authors/bonnie-tsui|access-date=2020-08-15|website=Workman Publishing|language=en-US}}</ref> which delves into the history of swimming. ''The New York Times'' called it an enthusiastic and thoughtful work.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Pols|first=Mary|date=2020-04-14|title=Eat. Sleep. Swim. Repeat.|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/14/books/review/why-we-swim-bonnie-tsui.html|access-date=2020-08-15|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Her third book, ''Sarah & the Big Wave'',<ref>{{Cite web|title=Sarah and the Big Wave {{!}} Bonnie Tsui|url=https://us.macmillan.com/sarahandthebigwave/bonnietsui/9781250239488|access-date=2020-08-15|website=US Macmillan|language=en-US}}</ref> about big-wave women surfers, was published by Henry Holt Books for Young Readers in 2021. She is a member of the San Francisco Writers Grotto.
== Awards == Her accolades include the 2019 National Press Foundation Fellowship<ref>{{Cite web|title=20 Journalists Chosen for Environmental Training|url=https://nationalpress.org/newsfeed/20-journalists-chosen-for-environmental-training/|access-date=2020-08-15|website=National Press Foundation|language=en-US}}</ref> and the Jane Rainie Opel Young Alumna Award at Harvard University''.'' Her book ''American Chinatown: A People’s History of Five Neighborhoods'' won a 2009-2010 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature.<ref>{{Cite web |title=2009-2010 Awards Winners – APALA |url=https://www.apalaweb.org/awards/literature-awards/winners/2009-2010-awardswinners/ |access-date=2026-01-29 |language=en-US}}</ref>
== Works ==
* ''American Chinatown: A People’s History of Five Neighborhoods'' (2009) * ''Why We Swim'' (2020) * ''Sarah & the Big Wave'' (2021) * ''On Muscle'' (2025)
==References== <references /> {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Tsui, Bonnie}} Category:Living people Category:American women memoirists Category:Memoirists from New York (state) Category:1979 births Category:Writers from San Francisco Category:American people of Hong Kong descent Category:American women journalists of Asian descent Category:Writers from Queens, New York Category:Harvard University alumni Category:21st-century American women