Jennifer Cody Epstein

Jennifer Cody Epstein is the author of The Painter from Shanghai, and the novel The Gods of Heavenly Punishment.

Life

Epstein resides in New York City with her husband and daughters. She has a Master of Fine Arts degree, a Masters in International relations and a bachelor's degree in Asian Studies and English.^[1]

She has written for NBC, HBO and The Wall Street Journal, The Asian Wall Street Journal, The Nation (Thailand), Self, and Mademoiselle magazines. Epstein has also worked in Tokyo and Kyoto in Japan, where she lived for five years as a student, teacher, and journalist, as well as in Hong Kong and Bangkok. She has taught at Columbia University in the United States, and internationally at Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan.

Epstein’s debut novel, The Painter from Shanghai, is the fictional autobiography of Pan Yuliang who lived from 1895 to 1977. She was a female Chinese painter who was revolutionary in bringing Western painting styles to China. It took Epstein ten years to complete the novel. “this is not a factual account of Pan Yuliang’s life, [it is] a re-imagining.”^[2] Epstein did much research, helping her to accurately portray the characters and the period.^[3]

Her second novel, The Gods of Heavenly Punishment, is a fictional work about Japan and the life of young Yoshi Kobayashi during World War II. In the book, Yoshi has to struggle with the destruction of her city, life, love and secrets.^[4] This novel was a work of fiction that allowed Epstein to return to her fascination with Japan, where she had been first an exchange student, then a journalist.^[5]

References