Tsai Suh-Fen was born in 1963 and studied in Taiwan and Texas. She started writing while still in high school and began winning awards while at university. CHILDREN OF THE SALTPANS won the 1993 Unitas Award for Best Novel and was adapted for television. Her 1998 follow-up, THE OLIVE TREE, won the Chung Hsing Award for Literature and Art and in 2014 she completed her Taiwan ‘trilogy’ with ALL THE STARS ARE TALKING. Other books include SISTERS, TAIPEI STATION and A CANDLELIT DINNER, for which she was selected as one of 2009 Asia Weekly’s Ten Best Chinese writers.