I was born in Maryland and for a few short, glorious, two-foot-tall years was fluent in Chinese. I then started school and promptly lost all my Chinese, studied it in college, lost it all again as soon as classes ended, spent 4 years working in book publishing in New York, and then in 2006 moved to Beijing, where I was fortunate enough to meet Chinese friends foul-mouthed enough to teach me words that most Chinese would be too embarrassed to reveal to a foreigner. This time it stuck, and eventually, I knew I had to put everything I had learned into a book.Today, I am a freelance writer floating between New York and Beijing. I remain a lover of language in all its forms, whether it be slang, the awesome literature found on Goodreads, or the adorable and unintentionally hilarious malapropisms of immigrant moms. Side note: you can like the NIUBI! Facebook page if you'd like to get updates on language articles that I write for a couple (English-language) China magazines, along with misc. language-related links, photos, and musings: http://www.facebook.com/NiubiBook
