Nina Li Coomes is a Japanese and American writer. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, the Atlantic, and Guernica, among other places. She has received fellowships from Aspen Summer Words, Tin House and Hedgebrook. Her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, a Chicago Review of Books Award, and a James Beard Award. In 2022, her essay on ramen and silent dining was included by Sohla El-Waylly in Best American Food Writing. In 2024, her manuscript titled “Half History” was long listed for the Graywolf Nonfiction Prize.   Currently, she teaches in the Creative Writing program at Loyola University Chicago.