Jung Yun

About the Artist

Jung Yun is a resident of Baltimore and the author of SHELTER, which was long-listed for the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize and a finalist for the Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers Award. Her work has appeared in Tin House, The Massachusetts Review, The Indiana Review, The Atlantic, and The Washington Post, among others. She has received an honorable mention for the Pushcart Prize and residencies from the MacDowell Colony, Ucross Foundation, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the National Humanities Center. Currently, she is an assistant professor of English at the George Washington University.

Artist's Statement

My work explores the complex intersections of race, class, and gender in the United States. These themes have long been the focus of my writing, dating back to my earliest short stories. They were also at the heart of my debut novel, an excerpt of which is included with this proposal. My current project is a novel set in a fictional North Dakota boomtown where fracking has lured thousands of men and women seeking their fortunes in the oil industry. The influx of diverse newcomers creates major tensions in the town, which has a history of racial, ethnic, religious, and socioeconomic homogeneity. Similar to the attached excerpt, which takes place during the housing market crisis, my second novel is set during a contemporary economic phenomenon that sharpens the distinctions between insiders, outsiders, and "others." More broadly speaking, it also builds on my interest in the fragility of the American Dream, particularly for individuals living on society's margins.