Rose Lu

Rose Lu (born 1990) is a New Zealand writer and software developer. Her book All Who Live on Islands is a series of autobiographic essays sharing her experience of growing up as a Chinese person in New Zealand and has been acclaimed as "an intimate and confident view of New Zealand life through the eyes of an Asian immigrant". In 2018, she was a recipient of the Creative Nonfiction Prize at the International Institute of Modern Letters. She has a bachelor's degree in mechatronics engineering from University of Canterbury and a master's degree in creative writing from Victoria University of Wellington.

She completed her undergraduate degree in mechatronics engineering at the University of Canterbury in 2011. She studied creative writing at the International Institute of Modern Letters at Victoria University of Wellington graduating in 2018 with a master's degree.

Lu's book All Who Live on Islands (2019) contains personal essays from the perspective of a Chinese person living in New Zealand and covers topics of racism, culture and family. It was written to capture the experience of growing up "caught between worlds" in China, Whanganui, Christchurch, Palmerston North, Auckland and Wellington. It is unique as there are very few Chinese New Zealand authors published in New Zealand. Lu is amongst a new generation of Asian New Zealand writers and artists, following from a small handful including Helene Wong, Emma Ng, Alison Wong and Kerry Ann Lee. She was awarded an emerging writer's residency at the Michael King Writers Centre in 2024.

Literary festivals which have featured Lu include the Auckland Writers Festival and the Verb Wellington Festival. Lu has named authors Esme Weijun Wang, Carmen Maria Machado and Jenny Zhang as her influences.

Awards 2018: Creative Nonfiction Prize at the International Institute of Modern Letters, Victoria University of Wellington 2022: Randell Cottage Writer in Residence 2024: Michael King Writers Centre emerging writer's residency