About Tom Lin
Born 1996. Tom Lin is an American novelist and writer.
Tom Wentao Lin (born ) is an American novelist. His debut novel, The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu, a Western about a Chinese American outlaw, was published by Little, Brown and Company in 2021 and won the 2022 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction.
Early life and education Lin was born in Beijing, China, and moved to Flushing, Queens, New York City with his family when he was four. Media praised the story's subversion of the white-centric perspective of traditional westerns and its exploration of identity. The novel was awarded the 2022 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, making Lin the youngest Carnegie winner.
Lin's second novel, Babylon, South Dakota, was published by Little, Brown and Company on May 26, 2026. The novel blends the Western with Magical Realism and Science Fiction to tell the story of the Hsiu family, who inherit a farm in South Dakota, one acre of which is purchased by the US Army for use as a Nuclear missile silo.
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Important facts
Contemporaries
People whose lives overlapped Tom Lin's
Frequently asked questions
Who is Tom Lin?
American novelist
When was Tom Lin born?
Tom Lin was born in 1996 in Beijing.
What is Tom Lin's occupation?
Tom Lin is a novelist and writer.
What nationality is Tom Lin?
Tom Lin is American.
Sources & further reading
Cite this page
APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Tom Lin. https://biography.guide/tom-lin/
MLA: "Tom Lin." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/tom-lin/.
Chicago: "Tom Lin." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/tom-lin/.
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