NYT bestselling author of PORTRAIT OF A THIEF + ANATOMY OF A BETRAYAL (up next!). Harvard EM, Stanford Med, Texan.
Boston, MA
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my debut novel PORTRAIT OF A THIEF is out now! this is the asian american art heist of my wildest dreams, featuring:
- college students stealing back looted art
- f&f-esque street races
- a critique of western imperialism
what a joy it is to share this story with the world 😭🎉
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I just got the asian version of cards against humanity and I don't know if I'm laughing or crying right now
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my favorite poetry subgenre is boba shops describing their drinks in deeply romantic ways
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you're telling me STACEY ABRAMS HAS READ MY BOOK ???????
ALT screenshot of interview with STACEY ABRAMS WHERE SHE MENTIONS MY BOOK
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Me on the phone with my mom last night: I'm sick
Her: Ok I can catch the next flight
Me: Is that a joke
Today:
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i just think that if a typo makes it past me, my CPs, my agent, my editor, my copyeditor, and my proofreader it's earned the right to be in my book
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some dreams-come-true news: my asian american heist story, ft. ambitious college students reclaiming looted art, fast and furious-esque street races, and art history as shaped by conquest and colonialism, is going to be published in spring 2022!
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the time has finally come... my cs major brother has CODED A GOODREADS WRAPPED
ALT my year in books, lavender haze version
ALT my year in books, sunset version
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today my bf got up and walked past me without speaking so i said AM I JUST FURNITURE TO YOU, turns out he was unmuted and still in a work meeting
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hello 2022, my wildly self-indulgent chinese american art heist novel comes out THIS year :')
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I just saw a tumblr post that called the trojan horse a murderous piñata and my life will never be the same
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when my dad said he was preordering my book i did not realize he meant THIS MANY COPIES 😭🥺
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if you too want to know whether you will love or hate my sis— i mean irene, PORTRAIT OF A THIEF is out next week!!
gracedli.com/portrait
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some incredibly SURREAL news: my debut novel PORTRAIT OF A THIEF has been optioned for TV by NETFLIX!!! this book is my love letter to art, heist stories, and my own asian american upbringing, and i can't imagine a better place to bring it to life:
hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-…
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the cover for PORTRAIT OF A THIEF is up! this is the asian american heist novel of my dreams, pitched as OCEAN'S 11 meets THE FAREWELL, about college students stealing back looted chinese art from western museums 🎨💯
preorder: bit.ly/portraitofathief
GR: bit.ly/portrait-goodreads
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thinking about the best publishing advice i ever got, which is whenever you're feeling jealous about someone else's professional success, ask yourself if you would trade the book you're writing for theirs
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it's official: my debut novel PORTRAIT OF A THIEF will be out one year from today, on april 5th, 2022! get ready for college students stealing back looted art, street racing in paris, and of course a critique of art history and western imperialism 💯
goodreads.com/book/show/5702…
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PORTRAIT OF A THIEF is a NYT bestseller and i have absolutely no words, what a privilege, what an absolute overwhelming joy 😭😱
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Friendly FYI for those of you who don't already know: if you mention when a character is POC you should do the same thing when a character is white, otherwise it implies that in your world white is the default
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just a quick fyi that my debut novel is adult fiction, not YA! seeing a few mixups (which makes sense, since college is such a transition point irl and in bookworld!) but every character in PORTRAIT OF A THIEF is in their early twenties and having a hard time dealing with it tbh
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went to a bakery just before closing to get a croissant and was given....fourteen croissants.....help......
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trying to be chill about the fact that steph curry is just casually talking about me and my book here, what even!!!
We just started reading “Portrait of a Thief” by @gracedli with Stephen Curry’s #Underrated book club and we’re loving this brilliant heist novel! Check out a special video message from @StephenCurry30 about why he made this his May pick.
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"very few women of color get published and when we do we cannot afford to screw it up because we don't get a second chance" holy shit shout-out to jane the virgin for acknowledging the realities of publishing
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exactly one year ago, my agent @HannahFergesen called to tell me that i was getting an offer for my debut novel. today, i held early copies for the first time 😭♥️
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so overjoyed to share this news! this book is my love letter to science, ft. overworked grad students turned reluctant spies, academic rivals to lovers, and how to survive a field that will demand everything from you. ANATOMY OF A BETRAYAL, coming 2024 💯🎉
ALT Deal announcement against a yellow background: NYT bestselling author of Portrait of a Thief and Stanford medical student Grace D. Li's new novel ANATOMY OF A BETRAYAL, about two Stanford graduate students—and longtime academic rivals—who find themselves on opposite sides of an FBI investigation when one is accused of spying for the Chinese government, and the other recruited as an informant to catch her, pitched as inspired by the true, contemporary story of the persecution of Chinese American scientists and exploring questions about the role of science in an increasingly nationalistic world, personal identity, and whether it's possible to ever be seen as "American enough," to Amber Oliver at Tiny Reparations Books, with Lindsey Rose editing, by Kate Testerman and Hannah Fergesen at KT Literary.
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seen a lot of publishing people offering support, so: a reference thread of resources for Black writers/creatives
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Help I was supposed to be writing this breakfast scene and now I'm on a website called "Bread: 8000 years of history"
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Good morning I'm back in the US now so let me tell you the story of how I left my passport across the country and an asian meme page saved my life
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Ever since the start of covid19 I've been trying to give my parents advice and today I just found out they BOTH HAVE MASTERS DEGREES IN INFECTIOUS DISEASE
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thinking about how i asked a publisher for an early copy of a book i was excited for and they accidentally sent me a whole box.....i have so many....am i the author now......
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✨ beijing at sunset ✨
this spring, join this heist crew as they steal back looted chinese art from western museums — artwork by @farawaygrace, who so perfectly captured the dreaminess of this scene
pre-order: gracedli.com/portrait
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My bf: do you think giving helen a love interest takes away from the feminist narrative of your book
Me: idk do you think ME HAVING YOU TAKES AWAY FROM MY NARRATIVE BC I CAN FIX THAT REAL QUICK
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just got word that PORTRAIT OF A THIEF is going into a second printing! two weeks to go! thank you so much to everyone who has already preordered, can't wait for y'all to meet will & his heist crew 🥰🎉
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🎉 INT'L GIVEAWAY 🎉
happy year of the tiger! giving away an early copy of my asian american art heist novel PORTRAIT OF A THIEF, RT + F to enter 🧧✨
ends feb 9th, non-US only! extra credit: comment what role you'd have in a heist!
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"kill your darlings" I whisper to myself as I delete a scene of two characters drinking soup
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writing emails is just a fun exercise in figuring out the optimal arrangement of exclamation marks
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every day i laugh at the fact that i wrote a book about museum theft and also.....i am a tour guide here
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the season for spotify wrapped is over, the season for GOODREADS WRAPPED IS IN
myyearinbooks.com/
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in one of the coolest things to ever happen to me, the one and only @StephenCurry30 has picked PORTRAIT OF A THIEF for his book club!! 😱😱
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some quick thoughts on publishing as 2022 comes to a close: my debut novel came out this year (!!) and so much since has been a dream come true. it's also the third book i've written, 6+ years since signing with my agent, 2+ years spent on sub for another book.
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news! news! my debut novel PORTRAIT OF A THIEF, about college students stealing (back) looted art from western museums, will be published by @HodderBooks in the UK 🇬🇧🎉
UK readers, it's also up for pre-order at waterstones + wherever books are sold (!!!): waterstones.com/book/portrai…
"I wrote this book as a classic heist story, but it's less a story about theft than it is about reclamation, of both looted art and one's own heritage", @HodderBooks bags @gracedli's debut, Portrait of a Thief, with @netflix already securing rights! bit.ly/2Sb5lJO
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🎉 GIVEAWAY 🎉
just about 4 months (!!) until my asian american art heist novel is out in the world, so let's do a giveaway! RT + F to win an advance copy of PORTRAIT OF A THIEF (US only, ends midnight 12/9 PT) 🎨
extra credit: comment with what role you'd have in a heist 😎
ALT An advance copy of PORTRAIT OF A THIEF, upright, on top of a stack of three more copies (only spines visible). They're all resting on a mirrored table and the background has a gray couch and an art print by Eamon Ore-Giron.
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sharing a book with the world is an enormous privilege, and now that PORTRAIT is out it's for readers to interpret as they will, but it's a bit...disheartening to realize that for some, this book about asian american joy and belonging is read as miserable or full of suffering 1/?
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i get tagged in negative reviews at least once a week (most recently: my book as a "rollercoaster of boringness," lmao) and i can't emphasize this enough: feel however you feel, but don't do the virtual equivalent of ringing my doorbell to let me know about it.
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have been staring at this for MONTHS and now i can finally share, look at the gorgeous art @LittleChmura created for the @illumicrate edition of PORTRAIT OF A THIEF 😱😭
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quick FYI that PORTRAIT OF A THIEF is now available for request on netgalley and edelweiss! librarians/book bloggers/fans of art heists, you can request an egalley now 😱
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i think i just...finished the first draft of this heist book?? there is much more to do but it has an all chinese american cast stealing back looted art, fast and furious-esque street races, karaoke in nyc ktown, every self indulgent thing possible
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ten minutes til i leave for dinner, aka one listen of all too well. thirty minute drive to dinner aka three listens to all too well. an hour and a half at dinner aka losing out on nine listens to all too well. coming home with two hours before bedtime aka twelve listens to all--
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i can't believe i'm in the hollywood reporter how is this real i am in the middle of EXAM STUDYING i did not know this was happening today AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH
Grace Li’s ‘Portrait of a Thief’ Lands at Netflix for TV (Exclusive) thr.cm/N41Mtr0
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watched #ShangChi tonight and immediately burst into tears afterward. never in my life did i think i'd get to see a marvel movie with an asian american hero, with this kind of tangled, messy chinese family dynamic, with dragons and myths that felt so familiar 😭😭
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not fully convinced i'm not dreaming this up but oh my god PORTRAIT OF A THIEF IS A #1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 😱😭
A huge congrats to @gracedli, whose incredible heist thriller #PortraitofAThief has made #1 in the Sunday Times bestseller list! 👏
🖼️ waterstones.com/book/portrai…
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hello! i'm grace, and my debut art heist novel PORTRAIT OF A THIEF comes out april 4th, about five chinese american college students hired to steal back looted art from western museums 🏛️🖼️ #22debuts @debutauthorchat
ALT Blue book cover for PORTRAIT OF A THIEF on a white-and-blue background with traditional Chinese motifs printed in a repeating pattern
Welcome to the very first @22Debuts author chat of 2022, which is our debut year! Kicking off the January retelling/reimagining-themed chat with an Introduction/Q1. Remember to include the hashtags #22Debuts and #DebutAuthorChat so we can see/find your tweets!
ALT Meet the #22Debuts author chat Introduction: Introduce your book! Share your title, publication date (if you have one) & a brief blurb.
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POSTER VERSION IS HERE!! it's so large i am obsessed with it
✨ beijing at sunset ✨
this spring, join this heist crew as they steal back looted chinese art from western museums — artwork by @farawaygrace, who so perfectly captured the dreaminess of this scene
pre-order: gracedli.com/portrait
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just did an interview where i said that my book comps to the fast & furious franchise because they're both about family, i am unstoppable
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🎉GIVEAWAY🎉
It's the first day of 2019 and I am SO READY for this year of Asian excellence, so RT+F by 1/15 for a chance to win a pre-order of a book of your choice (pictured or not) by an Asian author 🤩 Let me know which book in the comments!
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UK finished copies are here and they are gorgeous 😱🥰
the color contrast! the spine! the dramatic quote on the back! can't wait for this to be out so soon, AH!
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new headshot today courtesy of my dad (and also his beloved crepe myrtle in the background)!!
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it's been the most surreal, wonderful day — here's my debut novel PORTRAIT OF A THIEF on the NYT list, the indie extended list, and the USA today list (AND we're heading to a third print run)! can't believe this book is finding so many readers 😭♥️
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"I study history," he said. "I don't make it."
✨ 5 months ✨ until the arrival of will chen and his crew of college students / twenty-somethings, ready to steal back looted chinese art from western museums 😱💯
preorder: bit.ly/portraitofathief
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wanted a lil treat to celebrate turning in edits, so here's an aesthetic for PORTRAIT OF A THIEF, my adult fiction debut ft. twenty-somethings stealing looted art from western museums, complicated sibling dynamics, and street races in my college town:
goodreads.com/book/show/5702…
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Me: ugh it's been hours and I've only written a single sentence
My mom: it's ok in nine months I only got ONE baby
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2+ years, a pitchwars mentorship, and many many ups and downs later, our three books are together for the first time 🥺😭
ALT Three books side by side: PORTRAIT OF A THIEF, THE ONES WE BURN, and LIES WE SING TO THE SEA
ALT Me giddily holding THE ONES WE BURN and LIES WE SING TO THE SEA
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just found out that there's a pirated kindle unlimited version of PORTRAIT OF A THIEF on amazon, please don't buy this! it's the automatic option but it's not authorized at all and missing parts of the book :/
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watching figure skating rn and my kingdom for a rivals-to-lovers olympic figure skating novel ft. a chinese diaspora figure skater and a chinese figure skater
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somehow i have bamboozled stanford med into funding me so cool life update: spending this academic year writing full-time before going into rotations!!!
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(sorry sharon lmaooo i still think you're great)
penguinrandomhouse.com/books…
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exactly two months to go (!!) until the release of PORTRAIT OF A THIEF and we have a slight cover update (note the blurb at the top!)...
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just turned in my final edits for this book and it feels...surreal. PORTRAIT OF A THIEF coming next april, about twenty-somethings navigating college / diaspora / relationships / robbing western museums to return looted art 🖼️
goodreads (+ giveaway!): bit.ly/portrait-gr
ALT A quote from forthcoming PORTRAIT OF A THIEF on a yellow/gold quote card that reads "This was Beijing, somehow, impossibly, skin peeled back, bones glistening, and Daniel did not know if the city had changed or he had." In the corner is the book cover and on sale date of 4/5/2022.
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four or five years ago, @brandonjchoi took me to @strandbookstore and told me i'd be there someday. today, i saw my debut novel there for the first time (and cried, lol) 😭♥️
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if you like:
- ambitious chinese american college students
- a critique of western imperialism
- fast and furious-esque street races
- karaoke scenes in nyc ktown
- falling in love while robbing european museums
get ready for PORTRAIT OF A THIEF in april 2022 🎉
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good morning do you like
- six of crows-esque fantasy heists
- alt beijing after a failed revolution
- outcast gang of thieves vs. capitalism
- the political is personal
- complicated father-son dynamics
then keep an eye out for @atangwrites' THE KINGDOM OF WITHOUT 😱👁️
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this brought to you by @mixbecca, in a time when it felt like all my friends had book deals and i was just...falling behind, and i was so startled to realize the answer was still no, i would keep my story even if it went nowhere because it was mine (yay, neat!)
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if you're ever wondering about my commitment to The Aesthetic of this heist book just know a real comment my editor left me was "why is he wearing a collared shirt to a robbery"
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a quick lil giveaway bc the postcard version of @farawaygrace's character art for PORTRAIT OF A THIEF has just arrived (and it looks ridiculously good 😱)!
RT + F by this friday and i'll mail 10 out, open int'l! 🎨🎉
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新年快乐！happy new year! a quick lil thread of asian art / artists you can decorate your home with in the year of the tiger #LunarNewYear
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i love rivals-to-lovers sm
ALT In Chinese, fate is a word between two people. 缘分, for when two strangers meet and become friends; for when they meet again, years later, as something else entirely.
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REQUEST FOR HELP: As some of you know, I teach high school in the Bronx. My school is 67% male, 99% minority, and 99% low-income. The school year starts soon, and I'm looking to provide books for my students.
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people are getting approved for eARCs for my book and i am....a little emotional? i'm slowly rereading it as i go through pass pages and remembering just how much i love this book, how much of myself is in it, everything.
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