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Apple loves to talk with her readers directly in person or on Zoom. If you would like to invite her to join a club discussion or an event appearance, email her at Apple@AppleAnBooks.com.
Download a one-page author profile.
Reader’s House celebrates Apple An, an acclaimed author whose compelling works bridge cultures and inspire global literary appreciation.
As part of its commitment to celebrating literary excellence, Reader’s House proudly presented Apple with the Editor’s Choice Award of Literary Excellence. This prestigious award underscores Apple’s contributions to literature as a medium of empathy and connection across cultures.
The magazine commends Apple’s literary contributions for their ability to illuminate cultural divides, foster understanding, and celebrate human resilience. Her memoir Las Crosses invites readers into a deeply personal journey of courage and perseverance, while Mother of Red Mountains expands horizons through a vibrant portrayal of history and motherhood within Revolutionary China.
In their rave review, Reader’s House celebrated Apple’s skill for “crafting immersive settings and unforgettable characters.” Her narratives profoundly “dismantle stereotypes and foster understanding, one heartfelt story at a time.”
Brief Bio
Brief Bio
Apple An is a Chinese-American author, professor, and cultural memoirist writing under her pen name. She has been a professor at Syracuse University since 1995, and has published over 200 academic articles and three scholarly books across STEM fields. Her academic achievements include seven doctoral graduates, 24 awards and recognitions, and more than 16,500 citations globally.
Apple began her literary journey in 2017, aiming to preserve cultural memory and foster empathy through stories rooted in real life. Her literary work blends deep research with intimate reflection, offering a bridge between past and present. Her debut book, a memoir titled Las Crosses, became an Amazon bestseller and award finalist. Her first historical novel, Mother of Red Mountains, won national and international recognition across multiple award platforms for its powerful depiction of love, survival, and female resilience in revolutionary China. In 2025, she published her second historical novel, Daughter of Blue City, which became the No.1 New Release on Amazon.
She is the creator of the All-in-One Dotted Journal Notebook, a productivity tool based on mindful living, and co-editor, with Georgia A. Popoff, of the Voices Heard Anthology Series, 28 Voices and 37 More Voices, dedicated to emerging and underrepresented writers.
Apple is based in Baldwinsville, New York. She is a USTA-rated tennis player, an award-winning amateur ballroom dancer, and a passionate supporter of the arts.
Lengthy Bio
Lengthy Bio
Apple An is an award-winning Chinese-American author and professor whose life and work bridge continents, disciplines, and generations. Born during China’s Cultural Revolution and immigrated to the United States in 1989, she carries in her writing the echoes of history, the resilience of memory, and the hope of cross-cultural and cross-generational connection.
With over 200 scholarly publications and three academic books to her name, Apple has built a distinguished career in higher education at Syracuse University since 1995. She proudly produced seven high-achieving doctoral graduates. Her research has been cited over 16,500 times across disciplines, and she was recognized with 24 national and international honors for research, teaching, and service. She is a founding editor-in-chief of a major academic journal and an inaugural historian for two international academic associations.
But Apple’s most transformative work began outside the academic lecture halls in stories rooted in personal truth and historical depth. In 2017, she turned to creative writing to pass down her cultural legacy to her children, only to discover a broader calling: to preserve what history overlooks and to amplify the voices silenced by time.
Under her pen name, Apple An, she writes literary fiction, memoir, and historical novels that uncover the textured realities of people’s lives through a deeply personal lens.
Her debut memoir, Las Crosses: An Unwavering Journey to a New Life in America, chronicles her first eight months after arriving in Las Cruces, New Mexico, from Beijing. It became an Amazon bestseller in multiple categories, Biographies and Memoirs of Asian Americans, History of China, and Biographies of Educators, and was named a finalist for the 2023 IAN Book of the Year Awards and 2025 Readers’ Choice Book Awards. It also earned 2nd and 3rd places at the 2023 Outstanding Creator Awards.
In 2024, Apple released her first historical novel, Mother of Red Mountains: A Novel of a Woman’s Journey Through Revolutionary China. Based on real lives and historical events, the novel is both a tribute to the unsung strength of Chinese women and a meditation on love, loss, and survival under totalitarian rule. The book achieved the #1 New Release status on Amazon in Historical Chinese Fiction and has since won multiple awards from eight mainstream and indie award bodies, including:
• 2025 American Fiction Awards: Winner in Multicultural Fiction, Family Saga, and General Fiction
• 2025 International Book Awards: Winner in Multicultural Fiction
• 2025 PenCraft Spring Best Book Awards: Winner for Historical Fiction
• Additional accolades as a finalist, silver medalist, and top-category honoree in Women’s Historical Fiction, Best Adult Book, Asian American Fiction, and Historical Fiction
In 2025, she published her second historical novel, Daughter of Blue City: A Novel of Coming-of-Age Through Revolutionary China, which became the #1 New Release on Amazon in Historical Chinese Fiction.
Beyond her literary books, Apple designs tools for intentional living. In 2023, she published the All-in-One Dotted Journal Notebook, a self-help productivity system inspired by the Bullet Journaling technique and her own method for balancing a demanding life with purpose and peace.
She also co-edits the Voices Heard Anthology Series alongside Onondaga County Poet Laureate Georgia A. Popoff, curating work by emerging and underrepresented writers affiliated with The Writer’s Voice literary center. Volume 1, 28 Voices, was released in 2024, and 37 More Voices is coming in 2025.
Though she has spent decades shaping students in STEM classrooms, Apple’s passion now lies in shaping understanding across cultures one story at a time.
Apple lives in Baldwinsville, New York. A lifelong learner and lover of movement, she is a USTA-rated tennis player, an award-winning amateur ballroom dancer, and an organic gardener. In every facet of life, whether dancing, digging, or drafting prose, she remains grounded by a singular belief: that truth, told with compassion, can change the world.
Website: AppleAnBooks.com | email: Apple@AppleAnBooks.com.
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