# Mimi Lok

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{{Short description|American author, editor, and educator}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Multiple issues|{{BLP sources|date=May 2020}}
{{Unreliable sources|date=May 2020}}}}{{Infobox writer
| name = Mimi Lok
| birth_place = [Essex](/source/Essex%2C_England), England
| website = {{URL|https://www.mimilok.com/}}
| alma_mater = [San Francisco State University](/source/San_Francisco_State_University)
| occupation = author, editor, educator
| notable_works = [Last of Her Name](/source/Last_of_Her_Name) <br /> [Voice of Witness](/source/Voice_of_Witness)
| awards = [PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize](/source/PEN%2FRobert_W._Bingham_Prize)<br /> [California Book Award](/source/California_Book_Award)<br /> [Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award](/source/Smithsonian_(magazine)) 
}}

'''Mimi Lok''' is a British-Chinese author, editor, and educator. She is the recipient of a [Smithsonian](/source/Smithsonian_(magazine)) Ingenuity Award, A PEN America Award, and a California Book Award for Fiction. She is also the founder of [Voice of Witness](/source/Voice_of_Witness), an award-winning human rights and oral history nonprofit organization focused on amplifying marginalized voices through a book series and a national education program.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=ABOUT|url=https://www.mimilok.com/about|website=MIMI LOK|language=en-US|access-date=2020-05-19}}</ref>

Her debut short story collection, ''[Last of Her Name](/source/Last_of_Her_Name)'' ([Kaya Press](/source/Kaya_Press), 2019) is the winner of the 2020 [PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize](/source/PEN%2FRobert_W._Bingham_Prize),<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Short Story Collection|url=https://pen.org/pen-bingham-prize/|date=26 February 2020|website=PEN America|language=en|access-date=2020-05-19}}</ref> and a [California Book Award](/source/California_Book_Award) silver medal for first fiction,<ref>{{Cite web|title=California Book Awards|url=https://www.commonwealthclub.org/events/2020-08-28/89th-annual-california-book-awards|website=Commonwealth Club|language=en|access-date=2022-06-29}}</ref> and was a finalist for The California Independent Bookseller Alliance ‘Golden Poppy’ Book Awards 2020,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Golden Poppy Awards|url=https://www.caliballiance.org/golden-poppy-awards.html|website=California Independent Booksellers Alliance|language=en|access-date=2020-05-19}}</ref> and [CLMP Firecracker Award](/source/CLMP_Firecracker_Award).<ref name=":1" /> The novella from the collection, "The Woman in the Closet" was a finalist for the 2020 [National Magazine Award](/source/National_Magazine_Awards),<ref>{{Cite web|title=National Magazine Awards|url=https://www.asme.media/the-american-society-of-magazine-editors-announce-finalists-for-2020-national-magazine-awards.html|website=ASME The American Society of Magazine Editors|language=en|access-date=2022-06-29}}</ref> Some of the key themes that the author contemplates are human connection, the Asian diaspora, and empathy.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=Upending the Narrative of the Great Man of History|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/upending-the-narrative-of-the-great-man-of-history-180947636/|access-date=2021-01-22|website=Smithsonian Magazine|language=en}}</ref> Her work has been published in [McSweeney's](/source/McSweeney's), [Electric Literature](/source/Electric_Literature), Nimrod, Lucky Peach, Hyphen, and the [South China Morning Post](/source/South_China_Morning_Post).<ref>{{Cite web|title=Mimi Lok {{!}}|url=https://kaya.com/authors/mimi-lok/|website=Kaya Press|language=en|access-date=2020-05-19}}</ref>

== Biography ==
Mimi Lok grew up in [Essex](/source/Essex), in a small town outside of London.<ref name=":2">{{cite web |last1=Das |first1=Kavita |title=This Group Shares Oral Histories to Help Readers 'Better Understand the World' |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/group-shares-oral-histories-help-readers-better-understand-world-n768786 |website=NBC News Asian America |date=12 June 2017 |publisher=NBC Universal |accessdate=20 May 2020}}</ref> Her parents were immigrants from Hong Kong. Lok's father worked in restaurants and in a glass recycling factory, and her mother worked as a farmer, construction worker, and later for high street fashion companies as a garment worker. She got involved in journalism after a post-university visit to Hong Kong when [the sovereignty of Hong Kong transferred](/source/Transfer_of_sovereignty_over_Hong_Kong) from the United Kingdom to China.

Lok studied visual arts before enrolling in a MFA in creative writing at [San Francisco State University](/source/San_Francisco_State_University).<ref>{{Cite web|title=Creative Writing Grad Mimi Lok is Executive Director of Voice of Witness {{!}} College of Liberal & Creative Arts|url=https://lca.sfsu.edu/lcanews/2017/06/12/817007-creative-writing-grad-mimi-lok-executive-director-voice-witness|website=lca.sfsu.edu|access-date=2020-05-19}}</ref> After graduate school, in 2007, she volunteered as a researcher and interviewer with [Voice of Witness](/source/Voice_of_Witness), a book series started by [Dave Eggers](/source/Dave_Eggers) and [Lola vollen](/source/Lola_vollen), and collected oral histories for an anthology ''"Underground America: Narratives of Undocumented Lives"''. In 2009, Lok transitioned the series to a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, becoming its founding executive director and launching an education program.<ref name=":2" />

She lives in [the San Francisco Bay Area](/source/the_San_Francisco_Bay_Area), California.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mimi Lok |url=https://electricliterature.com/el-author/mimi-lok/ |access-date=2024-10-08 |website=Electric Literature |language=en-US}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lok, Mimi}}
Category:British expatriates in the United States
Category:English people of Chinese descent
Category:Living people
Category:21st-century British short story writers
Category:21st-century English women writers
Category:British women short story writers
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:21st-century English writers

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Mimi Lok](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimi_Lok) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimi_Lok?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.