Xiaolu Guo came from China to London in 2002 where she began a diary written in English that became the seed for the novel A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary For Lovers, which has been shortlisted for the 2007 Orange Prize for Fiction. Village of Stone, her previous novel published in English, was shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction prize in 2005. Xiaolu has also directed a number of award-winning films including How is Your Fish Today, which was screened at the Sundance Festival.

Photograph by Philippe Ciompi.