Pang-Mei Natasha Chang is a Chinese-American memoirist and essayist who writes about identity, relationships, and the intersection of cultures, generations and the sexes.

“Bong May” is how you pronounce her first name. Pang-Mei wrote about her great-aunt, China’s first modern divorcée, in her book, Bound Feet & Western Dress (Doubleday/Anchor).

Natasha is her middle name, after Natasha Rostova in War & Peace, which her mother was reading while she was pregnant. Natasha lived in Moscow for nearly six years in the 1990’s. She speaks Russian now, and loves vodka, pelmenyi and bard songs.

She’s currently writing a memoir about another aunt, who lived in Paris and remained single her entire life, influencing a lot of Pang-Mei’s ideas about love and romance. Pang-Mei has taught writing at Yale and Bard colleges. Her writings have been included in the New York Times Magazine, New Haven Review, and Saveur.

She lives in New York City with her two daughters.