CARA CHOW was born in Hong Kong and grew up in the Richmond district of San Francisco, where Bitter Melon is set. Cara was a 2001 PEN Emerging Voices Fellow. Bitter Melon, her debut novel, made the Young Adult Library Services Association's 2011 Best Fiction list.

 

Cara's blog, CHASING ICE CREAM TRUCKS NAKED and Other Adventures Raising Kent, was inspired by her experiences raising her son, who was diagnosed with autism and ADHD.

 

Cara currently lives in the Los Angeles area with her husband and son.