Qian Julie Wang

Qian Julie Wang is the New York Times bestselling author of "Beautiful Country: A Memoir of an Undocumented Childhood," which was named a best book of 2021 by the New York Times, President Obama, NPR, Newsweek, Good Housekeeping, and more. Qian Julie was born in Shijiazhuang, China. At age 7, she moved to Brooklyn, New York, with her parents. For five years thereafter, the three lived in the shadows of undocumented life in New York City. "Beautiful Country" is a poignant literary memoir that follows the family through those years, as they held onto hope and joy while confronting poverty, manual labor, and the perpetual threat of deportation.

A graduate of Yale Law School and Swarthmore College—where she juggled classes and extracurriculars with four part-time jobs—Qian Julie is now a litigator. She wrote Beautiful Country on her iPhone, during her subway commute to and from work at a national law firm, where she was elected to partnership within two years of joining the firm. She is now managing partner of Gottlieb & Wang LLP, a firm dedicated to advocating for education and civil rights. Qian Julie believes in eroding systemic barriers by giving the underprivileged the type of legal representation typically reserved for the wealthy, and in effecting social change by shifting the lens of the stories we tell, in our courtrooms and across our nation.

Qian Julie’s writing has appeared in major publications such as The New York Times and The Washington Post and she has appeared on outlets such as TODAY Show, NBC, PBS, and NPR. A sought-after speaker, she regularly addresses issues such as immigration, education, discrimination, and the power of literacy, in the media and at conferences, universities, corporations, community centers, and houses of worship. With a knack for bringing audiences to laughter and tears, Qian Julie uses her rare gift for storytelling to transcend the business, legal, political, and literary worlds and to bring light to the humanity that connects us all.

Qian Julie lives in Brooklyn with her husband Marc and their two rescue dogs, Salty and Peppers.