Photo by Sarah Deragon
I collect stories by day and create them by night.
Storytelling is what I do. During the day, I work as a product researcher, which means my job is to listen to people tell me about their lives, needs, and relationships with brands, businesses, and products. Then I translate what they tell me into stories that help the companies I work for design and develop delightful and useful experiences.
At night, I imagine and then write stories for kids. Kids are filled with such wisdom, curiosity, and joy, and I hope to offer them stories that challenge, inspire, and reflect who they are and what they experience as they soak in the complex world. My own child teaches me everyday, and I hope to repay the favor by bringing stories that celebrate her—and other kids like her—to the printed page.
Photo by Sarah Deragon
My stories celebrate diversity and multiculturalism.
My own family is a proud mix of cultures. I was born in the U.S. to Taiwanese immigrants and grew up in the Bay Area, which hosts an increasingly rich and diverse Asian American culture and subcultures. When living in Spain, I met and later married an Andorran (yes, that’s a real country!), and we have a young daughter who speaks Mandarin with her amah and agong and understands her dad’s Catalan perfectly. She’s still working on being able to chat with her French-Catalan cousin though, although she picks up a few French words every time they meet!
I write to celebrate the diversity and multiculturalism that lives in both my family and in families all over the world.
Official Bio
Short Bio
Nicole Chen’s experience growing up Taiwanese American, and the blend of Catalan, Spanish, Taiwanese and American influences in her present home, fuels her desire to write and tell stories that reflect a diverse and multicultural American identity. Nicole lives in sunny California with her Andorran husband and young daughter. Her debut picture book, HOW WE SAY I LOVE YOU, illustrated by Lenny Wen and published by Knopf BFYR (December 2022) was a Target Book Club pick and selected by the Dollywood Foundation for inclusion in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library program. Her debut middle grade novel, IT’S BOBA TIME FOR PEARL LI!, from Quill Tree/Harper Collins (February 2023) is a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection. Her third book, middle grade historical fiction novel LILY XIAO SPEAKS OUT, was released on May 7th, 2024. To learn more about Nicole, visit storiesbynicolechen.com.
Longer Bio
Nicole has been sketching, designing, and writing stories all her life. In her day job as a product researcher, she collects consumer stories, then shares them with the companies she works for so they can design and develop delightful and useful experiences.
Nicole lives in sunny California with her Andorran husband and young daughter. Her experience growing up Taiwanese American in the Bay Area, plus the blend of Catalan, Spanish, Taiwanese and American influences in her home, energize her to tell stories that reflect a diverse and multicultural American identity.
Nicole’s debut picture book, HOW WE SAY I LOVE YOU, illustrated by Lenny Wen and published by Knopf BFYR, (December 2022) was a Target Book Club pick and selected by the Dollywood Foundation for inclusion in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library program. Her debut middle grade novel, IT’S BOBA TIME FOR PEARL LI!, from Quill Tree/Harper Collins (February 28, 2023) is a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection. Nicole was chosen as a 2022 mentee for Diverse Voices’ DVdebut program and was honored with SCBWI’s Out from the Margins Award in 2022. Her third book, middle grade historical fiction novel LILY XIAO SPEAKS OUT, was released on May 7th, 2024.
To learn more about Nicole, visit storiesbynicolechen.com.
Headshots (photo credit to Sarah Deragon)
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