--- description: Find out why Yiyun Li is one of the 100 most influential people of 2026. title: Yiyun Li: The 100 Most Influential People of 2026 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt985e1f92c69e20bc/69d7cf5b8c44cbf2e07bf324/T100-2026-Web-Yiyun-Li.JPG?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Apr 15, 2026 # Yiyun Li by [Salman Rushdie](/author/salman-rushdie/) ## Salman Rushdie Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  Maria Spann—Guardian/eyevine/Redux More than 20 years ago, Yiyun Li’s first story collection, _A Thousand Years of Good Prayers,_ announced the arrival of a writer of exceptional gifts. American literature has been greatly enriched of late by new voices from everywhere—Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie from Nigeria, [Viet Thanh Nguyen](https://time.com/7280423/immigrants-refugees-america-afraid-of-the-other-essay/ "undefined") from Vietnam, and from China, Yiyun Li, who now stands at the heart of this brilliant group. Li’s life has been marked by dreadful tragedy, the loss of both her sons to suicide, which would destroy many mothers. She has somehow managed, through an act of “radical acceptance,” to make a masterly literary response to the unbearable in a memoir from the “abyss”: the National Book Award finalist [_Things in Nature Merely Grow_](https://time.com/collections/the-100-must-read-books-of-2025/7329558/things-in-nature-merely-grow/ "undefined")_._ The memoir joins high intelligence with remarkable emotional restraint, honoring the dead while also insisting on life. I don’t know how she did it, but I’m in awe. _Rushdie is a Booker Prize–winning author_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people/2026/yiyun-li/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people/2026/yiyun-li/"},"headline":"Yiyun Li","datePublished":"2026-04-15T16:55:30.279Z","dateModified":"2026-07-21T07:21:47.260Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people/2026/yiyun-li/","keywords":["TIME 100","list","franchise","Accolades"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt985e1f92c69e20bc/69d7cf5b8c44cbf2e07bf324/T100-2026-Web-Yiyun-Li.JPG?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Salman Rushdie","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/salman-rushdie/"}],"creator":"Salman Rushdie","articleSection":"TIME100","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt985e1f92c69e20bc/69d7cf5b8c44cbf2e07bf324/T100-2026-Web-Yiyun-Li.JPG?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/time100/","name":"TIME100"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-100/","name":"TIME 100"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people/2026/yiyun-li/","name":"Yiyun Li"}}]}] ```