{{short description|Chinese American novelist and academic}} {{Infobox academic | name = Ling Ma | image = | caption = | birth_date = | birth_place = Sanming, Fujian, China | death_date = | death_place = | other_names = | known_for = ''Severance'' | occupation = Writer, professor | education = University of Chicago (AB) <br> Cornell University (MFA) | workplaces = University of Chicago | awards = Kirkus Prize; Windham-Campbell Literature Prize; Story Prize }}
'''Ling Ma''' is a Chinese American novelist and professor at the University of Chicago. Her first book, ''Severance'' (2018), won a 2018 Kirkus Prize and was listed as a ''New York Times'' Notable Book of 2018<ref name="Kirk16a">{{cite web | title=2018 Finalists | website=Kirkus Reviews | date=2016-11-11 | url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/prize/2018/finalists/ | access-date=2019-01-22 | archive-date=2019-01-10 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190110215103/https://www.kirkusreviews.com/prize/2018/finalists/ | url-status=dead }}</ref> and shortlisted for the PEN/Hemingway Award.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://pen.org/2019finalists/|title=Announcing the 2019 PEN America Literary Awards Finalists|date=2019-01-15|website=PEN America|access-date=2019-02-23|archive-date=2019-10-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191030134810/https://pen.org/2019finalists/|url-status=live}}</ref> Her second book, ''Bliss Montage'' (2022), won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction and The Story Prize.<ref>{{cite web|date=January 10, 2023|title=Here Are This Year's Finalists for the Story Prize|url=https://lithub.com/here-are-this-years-finalists-for-the-story-prize-3/|work=LitHub|access-date=April 27, 2024|archive-date=April 5, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240405134529/https://lithub.com/here-are-this-years-finalists-for-the-story-prize-3/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|date=March 15, 2023|title=Ling Ma's 'Bliss Montage' wins $20,000 Story Prize|url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/ling-mas-bliss-montage-wins-20000-story-prize-97897987|work=ABC News|access-date=April 27, 2024|archive-date=March 21, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230321030512/https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/ling-mas-bliss-montage-wins-20000-story-prize-97897987|url-status=live}}</ref> She is a 2024 MacArthur Fellow.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Blair |first1=Elizabeth |title=Here's who made the 2024 MacArthur Fellows list |url=https://www.npr.org/2024/10/01/nx-s1-5131324/2024-macarthur-fellows|access-date=1 October 2024 |publisher=NPR |date=1 October 2024}}</ref>
==Early life== Ma was born in Sanming, Fujian, China,<ref name="tumbl">{{cite web|url=https://lingma.tumblr.com/bio|title=Bio|last=Ma|first=Ling|website=Tumblr|access-date=2019-01-23|archive-date=2018-12-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181218215423/http://lingma.tumblr.com/bio|url-status=live}}</ref> initially an only child because of China's "one-child policy."<ref name="NPR18">{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2018/08/10/637473748/in-satirical-severance-a-stricken-country-works-itself-to-death|title=In Satirical 'Severance,' A Stricken Country Works Itself To Death|last=Shapiro|first=Ari|date=2018-08-10|website=NPR.org|access-date=2019-01-23|archive-date=2019-01-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190116102141/https://www.npr.org/2018/08/10/637473748/in-satirical-severance-a-stricken-country-works-itself-to-death|url-status=live}}</ref> She grew up in Utah, Nebraska, and Kansas.<ref name="Borrelli 2019" /> She has an AB from the University of Chicago and received an MFA from Cornell University.<ref>{{cite web |title=People: Ling Ma |url=https://english.uchicago.edu/people/ling-ma |publisher=University of Chicago, Division of the Humanities |access-date=2022-09-10 |archive-date=2022-09-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220910195504/https://english.uchicago.edu/people/ling-ma |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==Career== Ma's debut novel, ''Severance,'' is described as "a biting indictment of late-stage capitalism and a chilling vision of what comes after, but that doesn’t mean it’s a Marxist screed or a dry Hobbesian thought experiment."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/ling-ma/severance-ma/?fb_comment_id=2206427286034399_2719769161366873|title=SEVERANCE by Ling Ma {{!}} Kirkus Reviews|language=en|access-date=2019-06-29|archive-date=2023-04-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405153602/https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/ling-ma/severance-ma/?fb_comment_id=2206427286034399_2719769161366873|url-status=live}}</ref> ''Severance'' is a novel that is partially post-apocalyptic horror, and partially office satire.<ref name=":0" /> It follows the novel's narrator in the aftermath of the outbreak of a deadly fever that has killed almost everyone in the US.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://electricliterature.com/severance-is-the-apocalyptic-millennial-new-york-immigrant-story-you-didnt-know-you-needed/|title='Severance' Is the Apocalyptic Millennial New York Immigrant Story You Didn't Know You Needed|date=2018-08-14|website=Electric Literature|language=en-US|access-date=2019-07-15|archive-date=2019-07-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190715051354/https://electricliterature.com/severance-is-the-apocalyptic-millennial-new-york-immigrant-story-you-didnt-know-you-needed/|url-status=live}}</ref> An earlier chapter from the book won a 2015 Disquiet Literary Prize, the Graywolf Prize.<ref name="Disquiet">{{cite web | title=Finalist winners 2015 | website=Disquiet International | url=http://disquietinternational.org/the-program/contests-scholarships/finalist-winners/2015-2/ | access-date=2019-01-22 | archive-date=2019-01-23 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190123225345/http://disquietinternational.org/the-program/contests-scholarships/finalist-winners/2015-2/ | url-status=live }}</ref>
Ma began the novel while working as a fact checker for ''Playboy'', a job she held from 2009 to 2012.<ref name="buzz">{{cite web | last=Ma | first=Ling | title=Crying At The Playboy Office | website=BuzzFeed News | date=2018-08-10 | url=https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/lingma/crying-at-the-playboy-office | access-date=2019-01-23 | archive-date=2019-01-23 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190123223616/https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/lingma/crying-at-the-playboy-office | url-status=live }}</ref> It began as a short story, written in her office during her last few months there; after her layoff, it became a novel which she wrote while living on severance pay.<ref name="The New Yorker">{{cite magazine | title=Ling Ma's "Severance" Captures the Bleak, Fatalistic Mood of 2018 | last=Fan | first=Jiayang | magazine=The New Yorker | url=https://www.newyorker.com/books/under-review/ling-ma-severance-captures-the-bleak-fatalistic-mood-of-2018 | date=December 10, 2018 | access-date=2019-01-23 | archive-date=2019-01-23 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190123223211/https://www.newyorker.com/books/under-review/ling-ma-severance-captures-the-bleak-fatalistic-mood-of-2018 | url-status=live }}</ref> She took four years to write it,<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/books/la-ca-jc-ling-ma-20180824-story.html|title='Office politics is, to some degree, horrifying' - Ling Ma on her horror-satire 'Severance'|last=Schaub|first=Michael|website=Los Angeles Times|date=24 August 2018|access-date=2019-07-15|archive-date=2019-07-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190715085148/https://www.latimes.com/books/la-ca-jc-ling-ma-20180824-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and finished the novel at Cornell as part of the work in her MFA program.<ref name="About 2018">{{cite web | last=Morgan | first=Adam | title=In 'Severance,' Ling Ma Destroys New York City | website=Chicago Review of Books | date=2018-08-14 | url=https://chireviewofbooks.com/2018/08/14/severance-ling-ma-interview/ | access-date=2019-01-23 | archive-date=2019-01-23 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190123223537/https://chireviewofbooks.com/2018/08/14/severance-ling-ma-interview/ | url-status=live }}</ref> Ma said she "felt pressured to write a traditional immigration novel" while in the MFA program at Cornell, but instead decided to write about otherness and alienation via the trope of zombie apocalypse.<ref name="Borrelli 2019">{{cite web | last=Borrelli | first=Christopher | title=Chicago author Ling Ma never thought she'd write a zombie apocalypse novel. Here's what changed her mind. | website=chicagotribune.com | date=2019-01-15 | url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/books/ct-ent-ling-ma-0116-story.html | access-date=2019-01-23 | archive-date=2019-01-22 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190122180121/https://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/books/ct-ent-ling-ma-0116-story.html | url-status=live }}</ref>
Ma has also published short stories in ''Granta'', ''Playboy'', and the ''Chicago Reader''.<ref>Day, Madeline (2018-08-22). "[https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2018/08/22/apocalyptic-office-novel-an-interview-with-ling-ma/ Apocalyptic Office Novel: An Interview with Ling Ma] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190123223227/https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2018/08/22/apocalyptic-office-novel-an-interview-with-ling-ma/ |date=2019-01-23 }}". The Paris Review. Retrieved 2019-01-23.</ref> Ma's short story "Peking Duck" appears in the 2022 ''The New Yorker'' Fiction Issue.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=2022-06-29 |title="Peking Duck" |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/07/11/peking-duck |access-date=2022-07-20 |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en-US |archive-date=2022-07-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220720225436/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/07/11/peking-duck |url-status=live }}</ref> Her first collection of short stories, ''Bliss Montage'', was published in September 2022.<ref name="The New Yorker2">{{cite magazine | title=Ling Ma on Writers and Their Parents | last=Leyshon | first=Cressida | magazine=The New Yorker | url=https://www.newyorker.com/books/this-week-in-fiction/ling-ma-07-11-22 | date=July 4, 2022 | access-date=2022-07-18 | archive-date=2022-07-20 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220720201816/https://www.newyorker.com/books/this-week-in-fiction/ling-ma-07-11-22 | url-status=live }}</ref> The collection won the National Book Critics Circle Award in Fiction.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Varno |first=David |date=2023-02-01 |title=NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE ANNOUNCES FINALISTS FOR PUBLISHING YEAR 2022 - National Book Critics Circle |language=en-US |work=National Book Critics Circle |url=https://www.bookcritics.org/2023/01/31/national-book-critics-circle-announces-finalists-for-publishing-year-2022/ |access-date=2023-02-03 |archive-date=2023-04-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230427222117/https://www.bookcritics.org/2023/01/31/national-book-critics-circle-announces-finalists-for-publishing-year-2022/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
She is the recipient of a 2023 Windham–Campbell Literature Prize for Fiction.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://windhamcampbell.org/|title=2023 Prize Recipients|website=Windham Campbell Prizes 2023|publisher=Windham Campbell Prizes|access-date=April 21, 2023|archive-date=April 21, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230421201624/https://windhamcampbell.org/|url-status=live}}</ref>
==Works== ===Books=== * {{cite book |last=Ma |first=Ling |year=2018 |title=Severance: A Novel |isbn=9780374261597 |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux}} * {{cite book |last=Ma |first=Ling |year=2022 |title=Bliss Montage |isbn=9780374293512 |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux}}
===Stories=== {| class="wikitable sortable" |- ! Year ! Title !! Publication !! Collected in |- ! 2011 | "Life Plans at 27" || {{cite journal |title=Life Plans at 27 |url=https://wigleaf.com/201110lifeplans.htm |journal=Wigleaf |date=2011}} || — |- ! rowspan=2 | 2012 | "The Scientist" || {{cite journal |title=The Scientist |journal=Ninth Letter |volume=17 |date=Spring–Summer 2012}} || — |- | "Yeti Lovemaking" || {{cite journal |title=Yeti Lovemaking |journal=Unstuck |volume=2 |date=2012}} || ''Bliss Montage'' |- ! 2014 | "Fuzhou Nighttime Feeling" || {{cite journal |title=Fuzhou Nighttime Feeling |url=https://www.texasobserver.org/short-story-winner-ling-ma/ |journal=The Texas Observer |date=October 2014}}|| from ''Severance'' |- ! 2015 | "Los Angeles" || {{cite journal |title=Los Angeles |journal=Granta |issue=132 |date=Summer 2015}} || rowspan=7| ''Bliss Montage'' |- ! 2020 | "G" || {{cite journal |title=G |journal=Zoetrope: All-Story |volume=24 |issue=1 |date=Spring 2020}} |- ! rowspan=5 | 2022 | "Office Hours" || {{cite journal |title=Office Hours |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/books/archive/2022/05/ling-ma-office-hours-short-story/629852/ |journal=The Atlantic |date=May 16, 2022}} |- | "Tomorrow" || {{cite journal |title=Tomorrow |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/268/article/860016/pdf |journal=Virginia Quarterly Review |volume=98 |issue=3 |url-access=subscription |date=Summer 2022}} |- | "Peking Duck" || {{cite magazine |title=Peking Duck |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/07/11/peking-duck |magazine=The New Yorker |date=July 11, 2022}} |- | "Oranges" || — |- | "Returning" |— |- ! 2023 | "Winner" || {{cite journal |title=Winner |url=https://yalereview.org/article/ling-ma-winner-short-story |journal=The Yale Review |volume=111 |issue=4 |date=Winter 2023}}|| — |}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Wikiquote}} * [https://lingma.tumblr.com/ Personal website] {{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ma, Ling}} Category:Living people Category:21st-century American novelists Category:21st-century American short story writers Category:21st-century American women novelists Category:1983 births Category:American women short story writers Category:American writers of Chinese descent Category:Chinese emigrants to the United States Category:Cornell University alumni Category:Kirkus Prize winners Category:MacArthur Fellows Category:People from Sanming Category:University of Chicago alumni Category:University of Chicago faculty Category:Writers from Fujian Category:National Book Critics Circle Award winners Category:21st-century American women academics Category:21st-century American academics