22076723065_219537652a_mPloy Pirapokin was born in Thailand and raised in Hong Kong. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing (fiction) from San Francisco State University, where she currently teaches as a creative writing lecturer. She also teaches at the Writing Salon in Berkeley.

Her fiction is featured and forthcoming in the Bellingham Review, the East Bay Review, HYPHEN Magazine, Asia Literary Review, the Queen of Statue Square: New short fiction from Hong Kong, and Transfer Magazine.

She is the winner of San Francisco State University’s 2014 Leo Litwak award for short fiction, and has received fellowships from the Ragdale Foundation, the Brush Creek Foundation, Writing by Writers in Tomales Bay, Kundiman, and a scholarship to attend the Community of Writers at Squaw Valley.

She is currently working on a collection of short stories set in Thailand and Hong Kong, exploring relationships within families: a little boy turns into gold from hiding a secret from his family, a Merit-Creator makes geckos rain from the sky, and a daughter wishes for a rice-statue to life.

Pirapokin will be hosting a reading of short stories followed by a writing workshop on Saturday, February 20th at 7 pm. Her workshop will help writers celebrate the personal, emphasizing that individual stories matter. The reading and workshop are free and open to the public. Bring a writing utensil and paper to use for workshop.